Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.

“Is this you?”

A food service worker recently asked me this when they saw that the photo on my Syracuse University ID card didn’t match the short pixie cut I have now. It startled me a little, to be put into the spotlight, publicly questioned on the authenticity of my identity.

Now, every time I go to the dining halls, the worries that piled up in that moment — as the line stalled and people watched, wondering why they were stopping me, why there was a problem, whether I’d done something wrong — come flooding back as a worker takes a moment too long staring at my ID card.

Having your identity questioned, especially in public, is uncomfortable. Deadnaming someone, or calling someone by the name assigned at birth that they no longer go by, is a form of identity invalidation.

Deadnames are often a representation of times before finding and expressing one’s true self. To refer to someone by their deadname reminds them of all the pain and discomfort from before they changed their name and invalidates the identity they’re expressing with their preferred name. This experience is uncomfortable at best and, at worst, a violent traumatic trigger.

Unfortunately, being deadnamed is not an uncommon situation for many SU students.

In 2016, SU established the Preferred Name Policy to prevent these harmful triggers and eliminate the use of deadnames in classrooms and in university communications with students. In accordance with this policy, the university created a form on MySlice that allows students to put their preferred names in the university system. The Pronoun, Gender and Preferred Name Advisory Council was created along with the policy, but isn’t visible or accessible to most trans students.

While the policy was made with good intentions, the implementation needs improvement. The lack of a visible, structured system and department result in unclear communication and inconsistencies that leave transgender students in a state of constant, anxious uncertainty over whether they will be deadnamed.

“It brings more of a gamble to interactions,” SU sophomore Timasco Thongchanh said. “It’s like I have to explain myself. It almost feels like coming out again or putting that ‘Oh, you’re trans’ target on your back. And if you’re trying to be a stealth trans, it kind of outs you as different.”

This is not a situation unique to Thongchanh.

A study by Pew Research Center in 2022 showed that about 5.1% of adults in the United States under the age of 30 identified as transgender and/or nonbinary. That percentage is only growing as people become more open to discussing and questioning their gender identities, and Syracuse University is no exception to a growing LGBTQIA+ community. This is all the more incentive to resolve the faults in the Preferred Name Policy’s system.

And as legally changing one’s name is a lengthy, tedious and often confusing process that can be expensive and sometimes dangerous, the preferred name system provides an alternative.

Depending on the state, filing for a name change can range anywhere from $100 to $500, excluding additional court fees. Also, according to a guide from Forbes, “you may have to ‘publish notice’ of your name change application … which usually involves paying for a notice to be published in the local newspaper,” which could potentially out people facing transphobic communities. After all that work is done, trans persons still have to refile legal documents under the new name and inform all relevant entities — such as landlords, employers and banks — of the legal name change.

In order to legally live under your preferred name, you have to risk your safety and wellbeing.

Cole Ross | Digital Design Editor

SU’s Preferred Name Policy is meant to be a step toward bridging the gap for trans students who are either unable to legally change their name or are waiting for this change to be formally processed. But without clear communications and consistency, the system falls short.

The Preferred Name Policy states that it “will attempt to display Preferred or Chosen Names to the University community where feasible and appropriate and will make a good faith effort to update reports, documents and systems that are designated to use Preferred or Chosen Names.”

While the wording could indicate a genuine intention for future improvement with the system, referring to someone’s livelihood as “feasible” or “appropriate” is inappropriate and invalidating.

Additionally, the policy states that preferred names “​​will only appear on class and grade rosters.” However, according to a university spokesperson and an answers.syr.edu page, the system has improved to cover other areas, such as SU IDs, Handshake and the Wellness Portal. Overall, the lack of an updated policy and the need to scour multiple sites for information is confusing and leads to miscommunication.

“It was disappointing for sure,” said SU sophomore Finn Geiger. “I had gone through all the right channels, I had emailed a bunch of people to try to get this resolved and then it just didn’t cover every single thing.”

A more prominent centralized system would also cover the inconsistencies that the current one faces.

According to a university spokesperson, “residential living spaces will use preferred names if a student has designated a preferred name in MySlice.” Yet, the areas that preferred names are actually displayed tends to be inconsistent, leaving many trans students with troubles being deadnamed both in person and online.

Despite SU freshman Sapphira Gilligan’s preferred name being displayed in other areas of the residential living system, she had difficulty getting back into the building after the scanner system crashed due only to the fact that her preferred name wasn’t on the room rosters.

“For most people, it’d be a slight inconvenience,” Gilligan said. “But for me, it was minutes of practically arguing with the security guard. I didn’t totally recognize it in the moment, but I was a bit shaky from it, because it does cause that dissonance to happen. It put me a little on edge and left me a little shaky for the next bit.”

In addition to facing experiences like these, incoming students have been confronted by their deadnames upon arriving at SU. One Resident Advisor, who wished to remain anonymous, said they were required to put name tags on their residents’ doors but were given a list of only legal names.

“I had to send out an email at the beginning of the year asking for preferred names,” the RA said. “There’s also no system in place to ask if people want their preferred names to not be on the door when moving in, in case they’re not out to their parents.”

Currently, the PGPNAC has little presence, but its accessibility is necessary to communicate and collaborate with the trans and nonbinary students whose daily lives are impacted by the systems it develops.

“The system is also used for people who just want to go by nicknames,” Thongchanh said. “And I understand that. But for some people it means a lot more.”

Ella Chan is a freshman majoring in Visual Communications. They can be reached at egchan@syr.edu.

Published on April 25, 2024 at 1:20 am