On August 4, 2023, the college posted its yearly Dean’s List to its website, celebrating students who achieved a 3.5 or higher grade point average for the 2022-2023 academic year. However, several students noticed something about it: dozens of transgender students had been dead named.
“After the compilation of the Dean’s list, [some of] us students realized that they used students’ dead names on the Dean’s list,” Maeve Baska ‘26 said. “Obviously this wasn’t great.”
“I had heard from the grapevine of students that the deadnaming had been occurring for years,” Katie Boermeester ‘24, the president of Union Pride, said. “I had reached out to the LGBTQ+ Committee for their thoughts on this and how to proceed. They were not aware, and immediately took action.”
When people transition genders, many choose to change their name. The name that the person was born with then becomes their dead name. Lots of transgender people have their dead name still listed on legal documents, such as their birth certificate and passport because they have not legally changed their name. Many also have family members who are unaware that they are transgender.
When students enroll at Union, school officials typically use their legal name, unless students formally request a chosen or preferred name. Union has two types of name changes available in their system: a chosen name, which “is generally requested when the desired name is not a part of the legal name, and is likely to become a legal name change in the future,” and a preferred name, which “is generally used when there is no intended legal name change, but the individual is typically only known by the preferred name” according to Union’s Chosen Name, Preferred Name and/or Gender Identity Change Request Form.
When students change their chosen or preferred name, that name is listed on Union platforms such as Nexus and Union’s email servers. Even when students have a chosen or preferred name, some documents must still list their legal name, such as employment forms, and financial documents. It is unclear whether Union’s Dean’s List uses legal, preferred, or chosen names. Union’s Dean’s list is printed out and displayed in Reamer Campus Center each year.
When school officials learned of this issue, “the registrar not only corrected the list, they also decided to reach out through both email and phone to all of the affected students. They also ensured that the updated plaque will be the one displayed at the Dean’s List ceremony at homecoming,” Baska continued. “I think that shows a lot of effort from Union, and it is really much appreciated.”
“I could not have asked for a better and quicker response from everyone involved in the situation,” Boermeester said. “Thank you to my council that brought this to our attention over the summer, and thank you to the LGBTQ+ Committee and any community members that helped mediate the situation.”
Union students, faculty, staff, and administrators are able to request name changes through Union’s Chosen Name, Preferred Name and/or Gender Identity Change Request Form from the Registrar’s office. Interested people can contact the registrar’s office at [email protected] or schedule an appointment to inquire more about the process.
