Auckland University will cover the costs for transgender students to legally change their names, as a stop gap measure till it can update its admin system so it recognises preferred names only. Student Jennifer Shields explains it’s one result of a process which began during this year’s Womensfest, where a panel made up of her, another trans student and AUT staff member Lexie Matheson discussed some of the issues they face. “From that sprung the group Trans on Campus, at first just to keep everyone connected - there were a heap of trans people on campus I had no idea even existed, because of the way we tend to keep to ourselves and our own social groups for safety.” Shields says the group started pushing for change, primarily around bathrooms, after being told trans students were to use unisex bathrooms only. “A few of us spoke at the equity department's regular LGBTI Staff and Student Network meeting, and I guess that raised the issue - late last semester we started seeing some response from Equity, but mostly around the name system, seeing as it seemed to be the thing that most directly affected our studies,” Shields explains. A plan was hatched to update the student administration system to use preferred names only, but there were technical problems that will take time to be ironed out. University’s Vice-Chancellor, Stuart McCutcheon, expressed interest what was going on, and Trans on Campus met with him and other members of upper management. “It was in this meeting that McCutcheon suggested the name change fund, as a band-aid fix to the preferred name issues.” The University says the cost of a legal name change and associated documentation is clearly a barrier for a number of trans students, so it will cover the cost for those who meet the criteria. The Equity Office will be able to process requests when it reopens on 12 January. Pro Vice-Chancellor of Equity Trudie McNaughton says the Equity Office is committed to on-going responsiveness to, and support for, trans students and staff. “We welcome feedback on how this support may be enhanced.” Shields says Trans on Campus is definitely pleased with the progress so far. “While it's good that Equity have properly opened up communication and are working with us a lot more closely, I think there's still a lot of work to be done. “The big thing is probably staff sensitivity - people getting misgendered by admin or teaching staff even when student info, including preferred name and gender, is right in front of them,” something she says happened to her just last week. Other issues include UniHealth services not being as sensitive as they need to be and stereotypes of trans people being used as examples in classes. “This is a huge thing that is only just being addressed - and then there's the issue of the attitude of the student body. While most are pretty okay, there's definitely a group of students who are hostile towards us that make it hard to know which spaces are safe - and while I guess this is true for essentially everywhere, we have the chance to push forward and make the campus as safe as possible.” Shields says the university is, however, making more and more effort. “Trans on Campus have a meeting with maintenance staff in the New Year to talk about bathrooms, both existing and ones being built in new buildings. “The university has contracted staff to do an audit of the locations of existing unisex bathrooms, and once this is done they will promote the results, including clear information around students being able to use the bathrooms of their choice.” Trans on Campus can be reached at Transoncampus@auckland.ac.nz Contact the Equity Office here
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 17th December 2014 - 9:57am