By Irit Skulnik

BestColleges and Campus Pride ranked the University of Maryland number one among the top LGBTQ+ friendly universities in the nation last month, but some LGBTQ+ students feel the university could do more to support them. 

The ranking is based on how much universities aid LGBTQ+ students academically, socially and financially. Campus Pride, a national organization for students seeking support and resources for LGBTQ+ issues, publishes the rankings annually to help those interested in higher education find LGBTQ+-friendly schools. 

UMD ranked number one in 2020 and was among the top 25 LGBTQ+ friendly universities in 2021 and 2022. 

Senior bioengineering major and Pride Alliance Board Member Marsh Hessler feels there is still a lot that needs to be improved for queer students at UMD. 

“I wasn’t surprised that we were number one, I was just a bit disappointed that this is the best we’ve got in the nation,” Hessler said. “I feel like [the administration] treats us like a problem that they have to deal with.”

Hessler said that changing their legal name with the university was a difficult process because students at UMD must provide a court order showing proof of the name change. 

This is especially difficult at the Health Center, Hessler said. They had to go off medication for a couple days because it was prescribed under the wrong name. 

“I know people have had worse experiences though where it wasn’t just the medicine that was prescribed to the wrong name, but the appointment was billed under the wrong name,” Hessler said.

Despite Hessler’s struggles with the administration, they said they feel grateful to attend a safe and inclusive school, noting that they feel the campus culture is largely very accepting. 

The rankings are measured using the Campus Pride Index, a national benchmarking tool for universities to foster safe and inclusive environments on campus. The free online tool allows anyone interested to search a database of universities and see their scoring on the Campus Pride Index.

Senior linguistics major Sara Riso used the Campus Pride Index when they were looking at colleges. 

“I did look up all the schools I applied to on Campus Pride,” Riso said. “I remember seeing that UMD was really highly ranked, it stood out for the trans healthcare that’s offered and I remember seeing that and being really impressed.” 

The index looks at eight categories: policy inclusion, support and institutional commitment, academic life, student life, housing and residence life, campus safety, counseling and health and recruitment and retention efforts. 

UMD scored five out of five stars in all eight categories measured except for LGBTQ+ housing and residence life, in which they scored a four, the website reported. 

Hessler was not surprised that UMD had a lower ranking in the housing category. They explained that while UMD does provide gender-inclusive housing, few people know it exists. 

“I knew gender-inclusive housing existed but the way the housing portal is set up isn’t actually helpful for people to find it,” Hessler said. “My roommate is a trans man who lived with women for his first two years on campus because he didn’t know he could live with non-women and that was a very bad experience for him.” 

Kristopher Andrew Oliveira, the new Director of the LGBTQ+ Equity Center, encourages queer students to reach out to the Equity Center if they are struggling with housing. He recognized there is still more work to do to make UMD a safe and inclusive space for everyone. 

“Just because we have an affirming policy doesn’t mean that the culture always feels as welcome or as inclusive,” Oliveira said. 

UMD students also advocate for an increased amount of gender neutral bathrooms across campus. While UMD has added more gender neutral bathrooms in recent years, many large academic buildings such as Tawes Hall, Susquehanna Hall, Van Munching Hall and the Benjamin Building still don’t have gender neutral bathrooms, according to the UMD campus map. 

For Riso, the lack of gender neutral bathrooms across campus is something that deeply affects their day-to-day life. 

“The biggest problem is that other than the one on the bottom floor of Stamp, all of the gender neutral bathrooms on campus are single occupant,” Riso said. “That is a huge barrier to a lot of people who don’t feel comfortable using a binary bathroom because it’s very easy for them to become occupied.”

In addition to a lack of gender neutral bathrooms, UMD can also improve their nonbinary gender marker system, Riso said. Students can update their gender markers through the Office of the Registrar, but many campus IT systems do not have a nonbinary or “X” gender marker. 

UMD has committed to introducing a nonbinary marker in future enterprise system overhauls, according to the Equity Center.

In the coming year, Oliveira hopes to create more training and educational opportunities for students, faculty and staff, as well as more community-building opportunities. 

“The main priority right now is figuring out how we can shift to do better engagement work and advocacy work as the center transitions,” Oliveira said. “There’s a lot to celebrate here as well as be reminded and take that spotlight and shine it back on the areas that we still need to focus on.”

Featured Image: The UMD Equity Center in Marie Mount Hall on Sept. 29, 2023 serves as a community gathering spot. Photo by Irit Skulnik