Gay Friendly Colleges Ranked - Reed towards top

Gay Friendly Colleges Ranked - Reed towards top Top of the list is New College of Florida, which provides a campus community most accepting of gay students. It also ranks number one for the most politically active tertiary institution, but ranks worst for a near absence of intercollegiate sports.

The top five gay-friendly Colleges are in order: New College of Florida; Macalester College of St. Paul, Minnesota; Wellesley College in Massachusetts; Eugene Lang College/New School University in New York City; and Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.

The top College ranked by Princeton Review for academic experience is Reed College in Portland, Oregon; which ranks 18th on the list for being gay-friendly.

The least gay-friendly Universities in America according to this study are Hampden-Sydney College, Virginia; the University of Notre Dame; and Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

Here is the complete list of the Top 20 Gay Friendly Colleges compiled by the Princeton Review:

America’s Most Conservative Colleges :

http://encarta.msn.com/college_article_ConservativeColleges/Top_10_Politically_Conservative_Colleges.html

Liberal arts” is the only liberal aspect of some schools. The Princeton Review surveyed college students across the country about their political leanings—and students at these schools responded with the top ten strongest right-of-center attitudes.

1. Hillsdale College (Hillsdale, Michigan)
Hillsdale’s politically engaged students “mostly possess fairly conservative values, and there’s even a good deal of libertarians.” Adds one student, “They can be a bit dogmatic sometimes.” According to the student body, “the largest organizations on campus are College Republicans and Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, followed closely by Praxis (an economics club) and Fairfield Society (a Christian organization).”

2. Grove City College (Grove City, Pennsylvania)
In general, most undergrads at Grove City College are “white, suburban, Christian Republicans.” These kids are the ones “who would ask, ‘What are hallucinogens?’” one student explains. A prominent group comprises “the normal, Nalgene bottle-carrying, Christian summer camp-working, service-oriented students.”

3. Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah)

From the student body to the “stringent” honor code (which regulates not only academic behavior but also dress, hair length, diet, and sexual activity) to the heavy religious-studies requirement, BYU serves the needs of America’s Mormon community first and foremost. Students describe each other as “upstanding” and “extremely friendly”; some, however, warn that “the nonconformist will find a dull social life with difficulty finding someone that will be their friend, regardless of who they are or what they believe.”

4. United States Air Force Academy (US Air Force Academy, Colorado)

The “straightforward, open-minded, goal-oriented individuals” who populate the USAFA “are teammates. We’d help each other out of trouble in a second. We’re that close.” Explains one student, “Due to the military stresses placed on them in the first year, they make great friends much quicker than I would imagine civilian students would in their freshman year.” Many cadets reported that “attitudes here have become more serious since September 11. There is a sense of purpose and drive, and a clear goal” shared by all.

5. Hampden-Sydney College (Hampden-Sydney, Virginia)
The students of Virginia’s all-male Hampden-Sydney College, founded in 1775, continue the Old South’s traditions. For the right type of student—namely, one comfortable in such an arguably archaic atmosphere—H-SC is a slice of southern heaven on Earth. Students are overwhelmingly “Christian in their beliefs” and generally quite conservative; warns one, “Only one group is isolated by the students: homosexuals. Not a good school for gay men at all.”

6. College of the Ozarks (Point Lookout, Missouri)
The “mostly conservative” students of College of the Ozarks pride themselves on their “outstanding moral values” (which lead at least a few to observe that “some here are really ‘holier than thou’”). Students agree that their classmates are both affable and genuinely accommodating; writes one, “People who visit here comment on how friendly and helpful we are.” Although they hail from far and wide, most have roots in rural America.

7. United States Naval Academy (Annapolis, Maryland)
Future naval and marine officers at the USNA quickly find that amid this “type A,” “moral, intelligent,” “goal-oriented,” and “aloof” student body, “liberal opinions are hard to find.” One student observes a split between “those who buy into the indoctrination system and those who rebel.” A common refrain is that the academy is “a good place to be from but not to be at.” But others state that the atmosphere can be “wonderful and challenging.”

8. University of Dallas (Irving, Texas)
Most strikingly, UD students are “strongly, almost eccentrically, grounded in orthodox Catholic principles.” More than one respondent to our survey offers “sheltered, conservative, middle-class, and white” as appropriate adjectives to describe the undergraduate population. “ Those who do differ from this norm report some friction: “I’m a pretty liberal Democrat and would support issues like abortion and gay rights, for example, and most people here are appalled by that.”

9. Wheaton College (Wheaton, Illinois)

Book learning means nothing at Wheaton without a Christian basis, and many students comment favorably on the “integration of academic challenges and moral principles” at their school. “It’s not that I’m simply studying and earning grades. I am able to grow as a person and a student,” writes a first-year undergraduate. The majority of students at Wheaton seem to support the strict rules that govern campus life, concurring that they eliminate “negative peer pressure.”

10. United States Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point, New York)

Respondents agree that “most students have similar political views,” which translates to “no hippies.” “The typical USMMA student is reported to be a white male between the ages of 18 and 22; only about 100 women attend the Academy. Everyone becomes ‘typical’ by necessity because of the regimentation of the school.”

I would like to add that the top 2 — Hillsdale and Grove City happen to be the only two colleges I know that refuses to accept Federal aid because of the strings attached to it. Inspite of that, they provide first class education at a very reasonable price.

Here’s a list of America’s Most LIBERAL colleges. You will see that this list mostly coincides with the list that is the most gay-friendly.

http://encarta.msn.com/college_article_LiberalColleges/Top_10_Politically_Liberal_Colleges.html

Providing counterpoint to their right-wing doppelgängers at The Princeton Review’s ten most conservative schools, students at these ten schools wear their mantles of liberalism with pride. According to the Princeton Review’ s annual survey of college students, students at these schools can never veer too far left of mainstream.

1. Mills College (Oakland, California)

A pervasive opinion of Mills students is that if you aren’t a leftist-socialist-Nader voter or at least one of leftist leanings, you are often dismissed as someone of no consequence and possibly a “racist, classist, elitist” by the student body. Whether they call themselves “progressive” or “narrow-minded,” most students are proud to be members of the Mills community. A student nods, “Our pride is our greatest strength.”

Students who considered Mills also looked at Azusa Pacific University, Chapman University, Santa Clara University, and Whitman College.

2. Bard College (Annandale-on-Hudson, New York)

When conservatives complain about PC campuses and ultraliberal students, they might well be specifically describing Bard. It’s the kind of place where students tell you that “we are more concerned with the terrorism for which our government is responsible than the terrorism that targets the United States,” and mean it.

Students who considered Bard also looked at Bennington College, Colgate University, Skidmore College, and Vassar College.

3. New College of Florida (Sarasota, Florida)

While New College especially embraces the liberal mindset—the student body is a “motley bunch of (mainly) leftist, spoiled Americans kids,” as one student put it—that doesn’t mean that different views aren’t tolerated. “Regardless of your race, age, creed, gender, or sexual orientation, you will fit in here.” (A student even goes so far as to say that “males and straight people are the minority.”)

Students who considered New College also looked at Bates College, Eckerd College, Knox College, and University of Florida.

4. Hampshire College (Amherst, Massachusetts)

Politically, “Hampshire students are ultra-liberal. While many would claim that we are an open-minded community because all kinds of lifestyles and ethnic groups are accepted, just try bringing in a conservative speaker to campus and students will be there quicker than the lifespan of a Hollywood marriage to protest, disrupt, and cause mayhem.” Students are proud to report that Hampshire is extremely GLBT-friendly.

Students who considered Hampshire also looked at Amherst College, Clark University, Emerson College, and Oberlin College.

5. Warren Wilson College (Asheville, North Carolina)

Politically, Warren Wilson “consists of various facets of the left wing: the Democrats, the Greens, and the anarchists. No Republican has ever set foot on this campus. Ever. If they did, they’d probably be pelted to death with hand-rolled cigarette butts,” writes one undergrad.

Students who considered Warren Wilson also looked at Antioch College, Guilford College, Lewis & Clark College, and St. John’ s College (New Mexico).

6. Sarah Lawrence College (Bronxville, New York)

With about three-quarters of the student population being white as well as “extremely liberal,” it sometimes seems that “the student body is much more homogenous than they like to believe.” But as you’ll find at any campus, generalities don’t tell the whole story. “Students at times can be cold, pretentious, and alienating,” concedes one sophomore. “But at other times [they] can be warm, generous, and accepting. It’s a bit of a bipolar campus.”

Students who considered Sarah Lawrence also looked at Barnard College, Boston University, Bryn Mawr College, and Skidmore College.

7. Pitzer College (Claremont, California)

Beware if you’re a student at Pitzer whose views skew mainstream conservative: “They tend not to tolerate political views to the right of Lenin,” one freshman observes of his classmates. Pitzer students wear their activist label proudly. It doesn’t stop there, though; profs and administrators intimately understand the school’s common theme of social responsibility and embrace it.

Students who considered Pitzer also looked at Chapman University, Claremont McKenna College, Colorado College, and Occidental College.

8. Reed College (Portland, Oregon)

Stereotypically, Reedies display their liberal beliefs like a badge; students agree this perception is largely true. One student asserts that “at times, the political liberalism of the student body is undoubtedly stifling to fundamentalist Christians and Republicans”— not that Reed fosters a thriving population of right-wingers.

Students who considered Reed also looked at Bard College, Grinnell College, Pomona College, and Harvard College.

9. Marlboro College (Marlboro, Vermont)

Marlboro was started by Walter Hendricks for veterans of World War II who returned from the front and wanted a rigorous education rooted in an ideal of student independence. Their legacy sustains. Marlboro students pride themselves on their independence. All in all, most members on “Planet Marlboro” “get along” and remain “very open to a diversity of lifestyles.” This is a good thing because of “the smallness and isolation of the campus—any enemy you make you will see at every meal for four years.”

Students who considered Marlboro also looked at Bennington College, Haverford College, Middlebury College, and Princeton University.

10. Earlham College (Richmond, Indiana)

The undergraduates of Earlham College agree that “the underlying Quaker values are what make this school so great. It has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with community.” Adds one of the school’s few social and political conservatives, “The school accepts everything that society apparently does not (homosexuals, alternative religions, drug use, alternative medicine, vegans).” Another counters that “overall, Earlham is a very tolerant place where students never have to be afraid to disagree.”

Students who considered Earlham also looked at Beloit College, Denison University, Dickinson College, and Kenyon College.

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