Many students from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community believe college campuses across the nation are "homophobic," according to a recent study by a Penn State official.

Senior diversity planning analyst Sue Rankin presented her research last night to about 35 students and faculty members on "Campus Climate" for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) community.

Rankin recently completed a comprehensive study of more than 1,600 students and faculty from 14 colleges and universities across the nation. The study assessed the climate for members of LGBT communities on different campuses.

"On college campuses, we create the climate when we come here. These climates affect the creation of knowledge, and we must welcome everybody," she said, introducing her study.

According to Rankin's study, many students in the LGBT community are victims of both physical and verbal harassment on many college campuses. Rankin said the majority of harassment comes from other students.

"The big thing here isn't just about being of a certain race, gender, orientation, ethnicity or spirituality; it is about simply being different. If you're different, then this applies to you," she said.

In her study, Rankin said respondents said LGBT people are more likely to be harassed on campus. Also, most participants said their campuses were generally homophobic.

Allison Subasic, LGBT student resource center director, said many students in the LGBT community have problems being accepted and being safe after coming out.

"I think there is still a lot of homophobia and misunderstanding about the LGBT community," she said.

Allies President Sara Ryan said more than 33 percent of LGBT community members at Penn State suffer abuse, and some are not being treated fairly on Penn State's campus. Ryan questioned why Penn State did not engage in the study.

"It makes me wonder about what the university is afraid to find out. The university doesn't want to know what is going on in their LGBT community," Ryan said.

Graduate assistant for LGBT resource center, Kathy Ziga, said a lot of students have problems being stable because they can not be open.

She said most of Rankin's findings were not surprising.

"This is stuff we already know. But it is good to see this in printed facts. This is confirmation of things we see all over campus," she said.

Matt Leifer (senior-media studies) said one of the biggest problems he sees is the lack of inclusion for these issues in the classroom.

"There have been times when I have felt less welcome. For example, when there is a majority heterosexual discussion in class, I have sometimes felt uninvolved," he said.

Leifer said he was glad to see his experiences attached to factual data.

"I'm glad to see the numbers behind what we have been suspicious of for a long time. Instead of saying we think, we finally have the numbers to show it," he said.