At SUNY, one of our four pillars of success is diversity, equity, and inclusion—that means creating inclusive and supportive campus communities where every student, faculty and staff member can thrive.

Nationally, LGBTQ+ youth are at higher risk of mental health issues, discrimination, homelessness, and suicide, all exacerbated by a recent rise in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and proposed legislation across the United States. We know that creating a sense of belonging and community on campus can help alleviate those pressures for our LGBTQ+ students and increase the likelihood that they will be successful at SUNY.

That means continuing to invest in support services and enact policies that make our promises real.

This month, we’re directing all 64 SUNY colleges and universities to form an LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee to assess how their campus is performing according to the Campus Pride Index, or the CAS LGBTQ+ Standards, both nationally recognized assessment tools that rate campuses in accordance to how friendly they are to LGBTQ+ individuals.

The advisory committees will report their findings by the end of the year, and SUNY will form a systemwide task force to address challenges and opportunities to better serve our LGBTQ+ students.

This builds on SUNY’s recent systemwide policies requiring gender-neutral bathrooms on our campuses and requiring chosen names to be used whenever allowable by law, in addition to many support services and resources developed at campuses across the system.