COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland has been named to Campus Pride’s 2016 “Best of the Best” Top 30 list of LGBTQ-friendly colleges and universities. The listing highlights the positive efforts UMD and other top institutions have made to promote diversity, inclusion and safety for LGBTQ students.

Campus Pride is the leading national educational organization for LGBTQ and ally college students and campus groups building future leaders and safer, more LGBTQ-friendly colleges and universities. For eight years, the list has highlighted the most LGBTQ-inclusive colleges and universities when it comes to policy, program and practice in higher education.

“We are truly honored by this recognition,” said Luke Jensen, Director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equity Center at UMD. “By naming the University of Maryland among the ‘best of the best’ for the fifth time, Campus Pride acknowledges the many campus collaborations at UMD needed to create an LGBTQ-friendly campus and the continuing effort necessary to maintain our national leadership in LGBTQ campus inclusion.”

The “Best of the Best” list is based on ratings from the Campus Pride Index, a national benchmarking tool which self-assesses LGBTQ-friendly policies, programs and practices. Each campus updates their index annually and uses the Campus Pride benchmarking tool to make improvements for LGBTQ life on campus. In order to be in the top 30, an institution has to score the highest percentages in the LGBTQ-friendly benchmarks. UMD was the only Maryland/Washington, D.C.-area university to make the 2016 list.

“Prospective students and their families today expect colleges to be LGBTQ-friendly. They want to know what LGBTQ programs, services and resources are available on the campus - and which are the 'Best of the Best,'” said Shane Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride and creator of the Campus Pride Index. “Now more than ever, there are colleges that are recruiting LGBTQ youth - and they are investing in a campus that is fully supportive of LGBTQ students. This Top 30 list showcases those campuses leading the way.”

During the 2015-2016 academic year, UMD launched two new initiatives, including Q-TEAM (Queer Training, Education And Mindfulness) and the LGBT Sports Summit. Spearheaded by the LGBT Equity Center, Q-TEAM was a year-long series of sessions led by experts on the health and wellness needs of LGBTQA+ communities. The LGBT Sports Summit, an initiative of the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, focused on LGBT inclusion in intercollegiate sports.

In addition to UMD’s nationally recognized LGBT Studies Program, continuing programs during the past year included Quelcome, the annual welcome event at the beginning of each academic year; Hearth (formerly Queer Camp), an annual fall weekend retreat attended primarily by incoming students; an Alternate Spring Break to New York City concentrated on LGBTQ youth; Lavender Leadership Honor Society and the spring Lavender Leadership Retreat, groundbreaking programs building and supporting LGBTQ student leaders; and the 18th annual Lavender Graduation celebrating UMD’s LGBTQ graduates.

For more information on UMD’s LGBT Equity Center, visit http://www.umd.edu/lgbt/. To view Campus Pride’s “Best of the Best” listing, visit https://www.campuspride.org/campuspridetopcampuses.