Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Just wondering any TG people that are attending university how do others treat you?
Thanks :)

Nearly no one at my current university knows about my status so I just get treated like any other coed that happens to be a computer science and mathematics major.... I think :o

The few times I did have to deal with my past at this school, I calmly just explained the situation to someone in admissions and everything was basically fine after that.

I'm not out at university as TG.

Everyone knows I'm into guys though, my behavior is fairly feminine as well. So I suppose everyone sees me as a gay man. Most people don't seen to care, I never had any event of homophobia os transphobia happen.

Thanks very much  :)
if anybody who is 100% out, who could reply i'd also be very interested to hear :)

My son entered college as a woman.  He began his transition as a sophomore.  He is now a junior .. he is called by his gender name and has a room in the guys dorm.  He hasn't encountered any problems.  If you had more specific questions I can likely answer them or ask him ...

Hi justme19,

I'm a Prof at a University. I of course make sure that any TG person is publicly insulted :laugh:.

Sorry :-*

Most Universities have very strict rules about how we care for students and they cover everything including gender issues, which BTW is a high priority training issue for the academics, even if the students don't realize it.

I'm happy to talk about individual issues you may have if you want to post them.

I have to admit that I'm in Australia, and there are Universitys in the USA that because of their religion dogma; may be unhealthy for TG people to study at.

Universities tend to be very accepting of diversity.


Some specific questions may help :)

Cindy

Hey, ill send you a PM Im in australia too!! :)

Thanks :)

It all depends on the college, big diff between Berkeley and Bethel.

I work in a public office at the University of Pennsylvania and went full time in March of this year. There are anti-discrimination policies in place here dealing with transgender. It is an amazingly incredible environment to go through transition.

There are layers and layers of colleges and universities (universities offer advanced degrees, that's the difference).  There are public, private and religious (with widely varying degrees of affiliation and indoctrination), even within some of the bigger state systems like NY and Cali campuses and student bodies differ greatly.  Huge diff between UT in Austin and Texas A&M even though its the same system.  Same deal with the Cal ones, Davis is pretty straight straight up science/ag, UC Santa Cruz is the motherlode of freaks who only know agriculture they can smoke and named their school mascot the Banana Slug.  Yes, "Go Slugs!".  That same system has Berkeley and UCLA two of the best schools in their key fields in the world, and its has a couple of campuses that are pretty much commuter/career based places that even the people who live next door to them don't know.

The most liberal tend to be the top tier of private liberal arts schools (wow, that's shocking that people who study liberal arts might end up being liberal and all) that are very selective and also very expensive (and have a bunch of other stuff that that people who just want to go to college and all would really chafe at^*).  Places like Stowe, or Oberlin, Carlton, St. John's (the one in Annapolis and Santa Fe, there are several) love people with quirky parts about them, and you would not even be the strangest person there - not even in the running.  The big public schools from the liberal states (Cali, NY, the Northeast) are pretty open, but they are run by the state and don't get any more liberal then the state does, except for UT Austin.  The big private universities (Duke, USC, Auburn) tend more conservative (they are run by alumni).  And the private religious school run the range from totally open (UCSF run by the Jesuits) to Third Reich (Oral Robert's, Liberty University, and not too long ago, Baylor).

Like anything else with a large selection it pays to know what you want and then track it down.


* - several of my friends went to those schools,  At St. Johns you don't pick classes, they program is the program and you just do it.  No electives.  One of the others requires all students to live on campus, has classes 6 days a week, and only seniors are allowed to have cars (not that it matters, they were miles from nowhere.)  One runs year round, no summer off.

I go to Skidmore which is a liberal arts college in NY... i started my first year as a female and came out and started to transition between sophomore and junior years... so far i haven't had a single problem, all of my professors have been absolutely wonderful. the students slip up every now and then, but mostly because i've been in class with some of the same people this whole time (i mostly take classes in the psych department) and even then they are always apologetic.
I would guess that Universities would have varying degrees of acceptance...
Personally, i'm not sure whether or not i want to go stealth when i start graduate school, but as of right now being out as a transman on campus has really been an advantage in terms of advocating for other not-out transfolk on campus :)

Yeah small, private, Northeast, liberal arts - that's hitting the trifecta plus. 

heh, I am a teacher and stealth (to my students anyway, i have taught for 10 years so the other professors i work with know).   So pretty much like a normal female professor, but with a evil sarcasm which even my transition could not take away. 

The truth with uni is that most people there are quite sensible, as they have to be sensible to get a good grade to be admitted in the first place and wants to leave with a degree. I wasn't out at uni but I already give quite a few hints that I am a girl inside, such as having a bunch of Hello Kitty danglers at the end of my USB stick. Most people didn't care and those I knew were all cool about my behaviour, other than the odd jokes stating that I should have been born with a vagina (little do that know! :D)

Like the freak girl I am! :P What else? ^^

Gosh...I don't know how a university in the south will handle a transgendered person...I'll be going to Mississippi State (it's really my only choice, parents won't help me if I go out of state) and while it's the most academic college in the state, it's still Mississippi. It's practically redneck country around here! If I'm going to walk out of this house in girls's clothes, I'd have to pass 100% no doubt with a female name and an F on that driver's license or I could be facing serious, serious dangers.

Everyone of them knows as I never said anything but it's obvious all my co-workers know it's not something you miss. Nobody generally mentions it. Only one of them made a reference thus far.

You need to be a bit selective in your choice, but it honestly shouldn't be a problem.  If your life dream's been to go to Bob Jones, you may experience some disappointment.  Meanwhile, at a small LAC near me, Oberlin, heterosexual students with a cisidentity are practically the minority. 

Oberlin has been about the most liberal college in the US since about the 1830s when it was founded. 

Yeah, it's a pretty cool place.  They actually have a crossdressing ball to celebrate transgender awareness week.

There are some other strong options as well, the point is basically that you're much more likely to be accepted at Reed or Oberlin than Bob Jones, or Baylor. 

There will be some garbage to deal with properly, but pretty much everyone experiences that everywhere.  There was a piece in the news recently about a frat at Yale chanting before the female dorms "No means yes, yes means anal." 

Quote from: justme19 on November 17, 2010, 02:23:18 AM
Hey, ill send you a PM Im in australia too!! :)

Thanks :)

Australia here too, ill be returning to university in Queensland next semester (February) and have high hopes due to the amount of gender research done in my department there (psychology).

From what my psychologist tells me who lectures in gender studies at my uni there are other TG girls there too! Just got to keep fingers crossed I pass by then so i can go full time.

Hi :-*

There are quite a few Shelia's  at  Susan's. Welcome doll.

Cindy