College Lands Two National Awards from Campus Pride Index

GSSRC staff, front row (l-r) Lauren Hamilton-Soule, Misty Villagran, back row (l-r) Leka Heimuli, Zack Schafer and Peter Moosman.

The Campus Pride Index just published its Best of the Best LGBTQ Friendly Colleges and Universities, and Salt Lake Community College is included in the alphabetically listed Top Eight among all community colleges in the US. This Best of the Best ranking comes on the heels of receiving the top spot from Campus Pride Index as the Most Affordable LGBTQ Friendly College in the United States.

The chart below shows the breakdown of factors that went in to achieving that ranking.

Salt Lake Community College LGBTQ-friendly break-down by inclusion factors

LGBTQ Policy Inclusion 4.5 of 5
LGBTQ Support & Institutional Commitment 4.5 of 5
LGBTQ Academic Life 2.5 of 5
LGBTQ Student Life 5 of 5
LGBTQ Housing & Residence Life 1 of 5
LGBTQ Campus Safety 4.5 of 5
LGBTQ Counseling & Health 4 of 5
LGBTQ Recruitment & Retention Efforts 4 of 5

Students relax during the 2021 Lavender Graduation celebration in the GSSRC.

Each factor and subsequent ranking is based on an extensive list of questions regularly submitted by the Salt Lake Community College Gender & Sexuality Student Resource Center GSSRC.

"Things like offering LGBTQ training to campus police on general understanding about gender and sexuality and specifics on LGBTQ history, culture, terminology and pronoun usage have helped the college increase its rank within the index," said GSSRC Coordinator Peter Moosman.

The college recently added gender and sexuality identification questions to the college’s admission form, which Moosman hopes will help boost the institution’s ability to better track LGBTQ students and provide services as well as provide better numbers externally for things like the Campus Pride Index.

A group poses for a photo during the 2021 Pride Picnic at South City Campus.

Being highly ranked by Campus Pride is valuable for helping parents and students deciding where to go to school and increases the college’s public image. The Campus Pride Index is the premier national benchmarking tool that self-assesses LGBTQ-friendly policies, programs and practices.

The Gender & Sexuality Student Resource Center (GSSRC) works with LGBTQ+ students from college access to graduation. The center, housed at South City Campus SCM 1-140, supplies programming and events to engage the college community in topics and issues surrounding gender and sexuality. The GSSRC is open for in-person visits Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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