Binghamton University: it’s a great place if you like rain, cheap bars or business school, but what about if you’re gay?

The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students, the first college guide in over a decade to be released specifically for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students, seeks to determine how LGBT-friendly certain colleges are.

BU, however, didn’t make the list.

In 2005, students nationwide had the opportunity to nominate their schools — but whether or not anyone nominated BU is unclear. The top 100 schools were determined based on interviews, schools’ progress on LGBT issues and how well each college or university scored on the “gay point average” — a checklist of 20 criteria that the most receptive schools are expected to meet.

HOW BU MEASURES UP

Some of the more controversial criteria, such as LGBT housing options and gender neutral bathrooms, make BU seem a far way off from its competitors. But much of the guide’s emphasis is on the academic realm.

Lyn Nelson and Lisa Pantuso, directors of BU’s Rainbow Pride Union, said that “there are professors in the English, human development, anthropology, women’s studies, philosophy, HPEY and sociology departments, probably among others, who are friendly to the cause.” Nelson added that RPU has a core group of 10 to 15 professors and staff that it calls on “for workshops, seminars, mixers and speakers. Sometimes we’ll speak in their classes too.”

Another element BU lacks is a Queer Studies program. The women’s studies department is working on developing a queer studies minor, which RPU directors said they expect to evolve into a major. But the time and money required to launch it has hindered progress. David Bass, the student association’s vice president for multicultural affairs, said that “when students wanted Africana Studies in the ’60s, they demanded it and they got it — maybe it’s time gay students got together and demanded queer studies.”

Social life is another major focus of the guide, which lists the yearly “event highlights” of each of the top 100 schools. RPU holds at least five major events per year: National Coming Out Day and Day of Remembrance (also known as Trans Awareness Day) in the fall, and the drag show, Day of Silence and gay prom in the spring. It also frequently holds “smaller programs, like our health forums and collaboration efforts with other student organizations,” the directors said.

But what about outside of RPU?

One of the major questions interviewees for the guide were asked was how comfortable they felt about coming out/being out on campus.

Bass said that, as a gay student, he has “experienced very little homophobia, but that doesn’t mean that it’s time to rest.”

Bass added that one of the indications that our campus is not completely open to LGBT students is the notable absence of hand-holding between same-sex couples, whereas displays of affection between straight students is extremely common.

The RPU directors added that being public with one’s sexual preference was a matter of “there [being] times and places to be out, and others to stay in the closet. The acceptance factor changes from area to area.”

Because of the threat of homophobia, BU does have a “safe zone project,” although Bass added that it was more of “a faculty thing” than a viable tool for gay students to feel more comfortable on campus.

Linda Morales, spokesperson for BU’s multi-cultural resource center, explained that “the safe zone was instituted about eight or nine years ago … to create some kind of visual institutional symbol, and along with that symbol, an actual policy statement that … we do not tolerate any type of hostility or homophobia against people who identify as, or are perceived as, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual or queer.”

MONEY WOES

One important factor where BU seems to fall short in comparison to large private universities like Duke and NYU (both on the top 20 list) is the amount of money spent on LGBT programming.

“We would love to sponsor more speakers, educational programs and even a campus-wide free AIDS testing event, but we can’t do it with such a small budget,” Nelson and Pantuso said.

According to the SA’s financial vice president, Richard Marmolejos, the “big four” on campus, Hillel, BSU, LASU and ASU, each receive around $20,000 per year, whereas RPU receives only $3,000, which its directors describe as “incredibly insufficient” and “a huge stumbling block.”

A SOLUTION?

Having other campus groups that lend their full support to the queer community is critical to making the top 100. Nelson and Pantuso stated that RPU has numerous allies that it “regularly works with.”

They added that, although the recent hate crimes in Hinman College and University Plaza were not directed specifically at the LGBT community, “a certain abundance of discrimination happens on campus daily to some people on a different kind of level.” In an effort to stand in solidarity with other groups that face discrimination, the directors are “trying to make a push to get people involved, no matter how they identify.”