Columbia Places First in Friendfactor Challenge

For the second year in a row, Columbia Business School placed first in the Friendfactor MBA Ally Challenge. The Friendfactor MBA Ally Challenge is a friendly competition among business schools to build the largest and most impactful ally initiatives they can over the course of the school year.

In 2012 Friendfactor presented MBA student leaders with a challenge to build the largest and most impactful ally initiatives they could over the course of the school year. Six top schools took up the challenge. They activated over 900 MBA students and transformed the culture at their schools. The participating schools raised awareness about LGBT issues by an average of 19 percent, and improved the inclusiveness of campus culture by an average of 24 percent.

During its second year, the challege doubled, with 12 of the top 20 US MBA programs participating. Over 4,300 students participated and executed 106 ally-related activities across their campuses, improving the inclusiveness of campus culture such that nearly 50 percent more LGBT students felt comfortable being out to everyone on campus by the end of the school year.

Participating schools are evaluated on the percentage of the student body who participate in at least one activity the number of events or campaigns executed that have an ally-specific component and the “inclusion score” calculated by student responses to an end-of-year survey. The survey assesses LGBT awareness and the LGBT-friendliness of campus culture.

Columbia had an “inclusion score” of 66 percent. Second place was awarded to Kellogg School of Management at North Western and third place was awarded to Ross School of Business at University of Michigan.

regions: New York City

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