In a time when gender equality is at the forefront of many conversations in society and on college campuses around the country, the University of Vermont has been a leader of the preferred pronoun movement for more than a decade.

Hundreds of schools around the country are recognizing each student’s preferred name, but the University of Vermont is the only school in the country to give students the option of choosing their preferred pronoun, said Keith Williams, a registrar at the University of Vermont.

The process began more than a decade ago when a group of students, faculty and staff joined forces to address the matter of allowing students to choose which name they wish to be referred to as, Williams said.

In 2002, the school allowed students of all gender identities to enter their preferred name into the computer system, but in January 2009, the university added the option of entering a preferred pronoun, Williams said. Williams added that by allowing students to choose the way that they wish to identify, the policy offers protection for transgender students in residential life and life on campus in general.

“It was really awesome to walk in to this,” said Rocko Gieselman, a senior at the University of Vermont who came to the university after these system changes had already been implemented.

Williams said there has been no negative feedback from students over the years, especially since the option of selecting a preferred name is open to the entire student body, not just transgender students, and also because it creates a safer environment for transgender students at the school.

The preferred name option has been widely popular with all students, and around 3,200 students out of nearly 12,000 students have utilized the online option, said Williams.

There was a lot of lobbying and planning that went on for years before the changes in the computer system that exists today occurred, according to an article published by The New York Times on Feb. 3. Dorothea Brauer, the director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning & Advocate Center at the University of Vermont, orchestrated many of these changes.

Williams said that looking forward, it would be beneficial for the university to find ways to avoid making mistakes in addressing students by their names and enforcing the addressing of students by the names and pronouns they prefer, whether it be an error made by the person or the system.

Another goal that members of the student body and faculty have moving forward is to increase funding for LGBT resources and programs on campus that are severely underfunded, Gieselman said.

It would also be an improvement to have it mandated for all professors in all departments to be trained to respond to students in a way that they choose to identify, Gieselman added. That’s because, for example, a business professor may not have the same experience in the field that an LGBT studies or sociology professor has, and it is important to make all students feel supported, Gieselman said.

Williams said the ultimate goal is to allow all students at the University of Vermont to have the maximum amount of control over their identity.

Published on February 12, 2015 at 12:01 am

Contact Erin: eemcdona@syr.edu