The hall is alive with college representatives. Tables are draped with banners labeled with college letters and insignia. Pamphlets, pencils and business cards are on display. A projector screens a profile on GLBT-friendly colleges across a stage. But there is one thing missing: the students.

Campus Pride, a national nonprofit organization that seeks to create safer, more GLBT-friendly college and university environments, hosted its second annual West Coast LGBT-Friendly College Fair at the San Diego LGBT Community Center, last Saturday.

“We really worked hard to let youth in the area know about this fair. Last year, the fair was hosted on the campus of UCSD, and we had about 50 youth and their families attend. Obviously, today, we do not have the 50 youth or their families, unless they’re waiting for the last hour to show up, which, who knows, given ‘gay people time,’” said Campus Pride Executive Director Shane Windmeyer.

More than 30 universities participated in the event – from national ivy leagues Yale and Princeton to our local San Diego State University and University of California, San Diego.

Based on feedback from last year’s event, organizers decided to move this year’s fair to a Saturday and host it at a community center.

“We took feedback from last year, when we did it on a Friday. And everyone said, ‘Don’t do it on a Friday. Do it on a Saturday.’ And they also said, ‘Don’t do it on a college campus. Do it in the community.’ So we said, ‘OK.’ So that was the feedback from students. So, we did all that, and here we are,” said University of California, San Diego’s LGBT Resource Center Director Shaun Travers, who, with Windmeyer, organized each fair.

Both were hoping to double last year’s attendance, but this year only about 12 students turned out.

For the students and parents who did attend, however, it was an unusual opportunity to meet and speak at length with representatives from a wide selection of universities.

“It was informative. It helped open my mind to new schools, schools that we sort of thought about but, you know, kind of put under the radar,” Danny Barry, 16, said. Barry and his mother, Mara Barry, both from Chicago, heard about the fair on Campus Pride’s Web site, www.campuspride.org, and since they were already visiting the area, decided to attend.

“While my son’s got to find a place that works for him, you know academically and in life, as a parent, I feel like it’s my responsibility to find a place that’s safe for him,” Mara Barry said.

Sam Roecker, 17, and his mother Deborah Stone, who also heard about the event on the Web site, flew from their hometown of Boulder, Colorado to attend.

“We flew in today, and we’re going back today,” Stone said.

“It was a lower than expected turnout, but it was great to see the range, and the wide variety of schools, from public to private, small to large,” Roecker said.

“But I can’t imagine I would want to do that if I was one of the colleges or universities,” Stone added.

With two to three students in attendance per hour, college representatives used the down time to mingle. I spoke with several of them.

“I love doing the Campus Pride. I can’t support it enough. It think it’s like a fabulous idea,” said Columbia College, Chicago’s Associate Director of Admissions Recruitment Sherry Anton.

Anton stayed positive about the low attendance

“I suppose it’s to be expected. It’s a Saturday. It might be kind of rough for even prospective students to consider college,” she said.

Other college representatives, who asked not to be identified, had harsher words.

“I think it’s pretty awful. It’s a terrible turnout. I think we’ve had 10 students show up today. I only had two or three students come to my table,” one said.

“The organizers said they were hoping for 100. Don’t get me wrong; we are happy to be here. But we’re also concerned. Like, what advertising did they do?” another said.

Windmeyer and Travers said they increased their marketing for this year’s event, working with both national and local GLBT organizations, including: the Gay-Straight Alliance; Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays; Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network and local high schools and colleges.

Poway resident Vladimir Staples, 19, had not heard about the fair, but he was happy to walk in as he passed by.

“Actually, I was bored. I wanted to see what was going on at The Center. I just came here and looked around,” Staples said.

A student at Palomar College, Staples had wanted to transfer to another community college. But, after walking through the fair, he now wants to apply to several four-year universities.

“Oh yeah. Right now I want to apply to, what’s it called, the Columbia College of Art and Design, I think. I also want to maybe apply to this place,” Staples said, holding up a brochure for the University of Southern California.

Rene Moraida, 23, a student at San Diego City College, did not hear about the event until the day before, after picking up a copy of the Gay & Lesbian Times. At the fair, Moraida was surprised.

“I didn’t expect a lot of the Ivy league schools to come out here. There is someone from Yale, a local alumni from Princeton, even our own four-year schools are here,” he said.