SUNY policy changes to allow for students' chosen names, pronouns
Students on the Stony Brook University campus last August. Local SUNY officials reacted favorably to the policy changes. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
All 64 SUNY campuses must fully implement policy changes that allow students to use their preferred name and pronouns, to try to foster a more welcoming and inclusive college environment, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday.
The decision, approved by the State University of New York Board of Trustees and announced by Hochul, calls on SUNY's four-year colleges and universities and its two-year community colleges to update the policies "to ensure that transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary students' identities are fully reflected and represented in campus systems."
Hochul said in a statement: "Every person, regardless of their gender identity or the name they choose to go by, deserves to have identity documentation that reflects who they are. This historic change by the SUNY system is a victory in our ongoing fight to ensure that New York is a place of love and belonging."
The changes must be in place by the start of the fall 2023 semester, the announcement said. They call for the student's chosen name and pronouns to appear in campus portals, class rosters, student email addresses and elsewhere.
Like a recent change allowing New Yorkers to place an "X" as a gender marker on a driver's license, students at SUNY campuses also can select an "X" when a campus asks for gender information. The "X" policy must be implemented by the end of 2022.
"An inclusive chosen name and pronoun policy doesn't only help students feel safer on campus — it is also a matter of respect," SUNY Interim Chancellor Deborah F. Stanley said in a statement.
Victoria Sarita, 22, of Staten island, who graduated from Stony Brook University last month with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in women’s and gender studies, was pleased with the changes, calling them "with the times."
Sarita, a former executive vice president of the university’s undergraduate student government, added that her Gen Z generation “has been pushing to feel free. It’s part of the freedom that we get in the United States. I’m glad that SUNY’s reflecting that.”
She added that while she doesn’t identify as transgender or nonconforming gender, “I have friends that do. It means a lot that my friends and loved ones can feel more comfortable.”
Local SUNY officials reacted favorably to the policy changes. Stony Brook officials, in a statement, said the campus will move to implement them. "Stony Brook University's mission and vision are built on the principles of providing a world-class education in a caring and respectful environment for our campus community."
Kevin Jordan, vice president and chief diversity officer at Farmingdale State College, said in a statement: “Farmingdale is proud to have been on the forefront of such an initiative as it implemented a similar policy three years ago. We're happy to learn more schools will join in the effort to create learning environments that embrace inclusive excellence.”
Usama M. Shaikh, SUNY Old Westbury's vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, said in an interview that the college had a similar policy in effect. He said the campus also encourages students to use their chosen pronouns.
"For us, it’s a matter of our own social justice mission. That’s why we’ve had a chosen name policy ... on the books," Shaikh said.
