FARMINGTON — The University of Maine at Farmington announces it has received a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars — its highest rating to date — from Campus Pride, the premier LGBTQ national benchmarking tool for colleges and universities to create safer, more inclusive campus communities.

The Campus Pride score is based on eight LGBTQ-friendly factors, including: policy inclusion, support and institutional commitment, academic life, student life, housing & residence life, campus safety, counseling and health and recruitment and retention efforts. The index is an overall indicator of institutional commitment to LGBTQ-inclusive policy, program and practice.

“We are proud to receive a 4.5 out of 5 stars rating on the Campus Pride index this year. As an overall indicator of institutional commitment to LGBTQ-inclusive policy, our new rating affirms the work we continue here at UMF,” said Lisa Ellrich, assistant vice president of enrollment management and director of admissions.

A longtime leader in LGBTQ+-friendly policies, UMF pioneered one of the very first LGBTQ+ student organizations in northern New England. It is committed to a continuing effort to support students’ needs and build support and programming across campus.

Some of Farmington’s current supportive policies involve its campuswide gender inclusive housing policy, chosen name change policy, Safe Zone identification and training, gender neutral bathrooms, health clinic and counseling support, Faculty/Staff Out-List, Queer Student Union, and more.

UMF is also a longtime supporter of EqualityMaine, the largest statewide organization dedicated to creating a fair and just society for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Mainers.