The Name on the Card

Photo Credit: Djemima Duvernat

Every time a transgender student taps their ID at the dining hall, the card reader shows a name they stopped using a long time ago. Then they open their laptop, and that same name is sitting at the top of their inbox. Most of us don't think twice about our student ID or our university email. For transgender students on this campus who have transitioned, or are in the middle of transitioning, those two things are a daily reminder of a name they've left behind. Over the past few weeks, I have talked with several of these students. None of them wanted to be named in this article, and that alone tells you something. When I asked what bothers them most, they all pointed to the same two things: the name on their ID and the name in their email. What surprised me is that the University already has a policy meant to prevent this.

The University of New Haven's Gender Identity/Expression Policy (Student Affairs Policy No. 9000) has been in effect since August 2017. Under it, students can request that a chosen first name be added to their university records, and the forms are available through the Registrar's Office. The policy is directly targeted towards ID cards. As a University ID card  is for campus identification only and can't be used as legal ID, the card "will feature an individual's preferred name upon request." The policy also commits the University to reviewing its information systems from time to time to make sure they actually follow it. So, on paper, a student should be able to fill out a form and walk away with a card that shows the right name. That isn't what the students I spoke with described.

The students I spoke with asked me not to use their names or their words, and I'm keeping that promise. What I can share is what came up again and again. They're at different points in their transitions, but none of them described the name issue as a one-time hassle. It shows up in ordinary moments, many times a week. The ID card is the most visible part of it. Students hand it over at the front desk of their residence hall, at the library, at the fitness center and to campus police. Each time, a stranger sees a name the student no longer uses, and the student has a few seconds to decide whether to explain or just let it go. The email was the biggest worry for every student I talked to. Your university email is attached to almost everything you do here. It's how you reach professors and advisors, sign up for clubs and apply for jobs and internships. When the old name is on that account, it goes out with every message a student sends, to people they may never have chosen to tell.

An email is never just between you and your screen. If the old name is on every message, a student gets out to everyone they write to, often before they've decided whether that person needs to know. That can shape how a professor treats them, how a group project goes, or how an employer reads an application. The students I spoke with weren't asking for anything dramatic. They want the name they use to be the name the University uses, in the places they're seen most. Other schools have gone further. The University of Dayton's chosen name policy, for example, treats intentional or persistent refusal to use someone's chosen name as a violation of university policy.

Part of the reason email keeps coming up may be technical. At many universities, a student's email address and login are created from their legal name the moment they enroll, and those accounts connect to other systems like course platforms, financial aid, and housing. Updating a display name is often simple. Changing the address underneath can be much harder, and some schools say outright that not every system they use can show a chosen name. That's an explanation, not an excuse. If our systems can't fully carry out a policy the University adopted in 2017, students deserve to know which ones fall short and what the plan is to fix them. That information should be easy for any student to find.

The policy is nine years old, and the University deserves credit for writing it before many schools had one. But a policy only means something if the students it was written for can feel it’s impact in their day-to-day lives. Right now, some of them are still introduced to every new professor by a name that isn't theirs. If you've gone through the chosen-name process here, whether it worked or not, I want to hear from you. Reach out to usgavpcad@newhaven.edu or the Dean of Students, I promise we want to help. A disease that is not brought up to a doctor can’t be cured.