Allowing preferred names must be just the beginningThe day-to-day pressures of college are hard on all of us. But many transgender students face the added burden of having their gender identities constantly misunderstood and questioned. In a move intended to ease the extra burden and assure more transgender rights, the University announced last week that it will allow students to use their preferred names on class rosters, CTools accounts and MCards. This new policy will help create a more tolerant, comfortable atmosphere for the transgender community, but it should not be the end of the University's evaluation of how its policies affect transgender people.
In 2005, a subcommittee appointed by the provost recommended that the University begin to accept students' preferred names. Nearly two years later, the subcommittee's recommendations have started to finally trickle down into policy.
