Keene State policy demands that students who make the Dean’s List are listed by their legal names, alongside their hometowns. We at The Equinox take issue with this policy.
The Dean’s List is a recognition of academic achievement for students who earn a GPA of 3.5 or higher. This should be an opportunity to celebrate the students who are recognized, but the legal name policy instead turns it into a discomforting and potentially dangerous experience for many, especially transgender and gender-nonconforming students.
The reality is that the combination of legal name and hometown has the potential to be a dangerous set of information to make public about students, especially those who may be coming from environments that are not supportive of their gender identities.
We are also disappointed in the lack of communication from the college about this policy. About a year ago, at a KSC Senate meeting, it was stated that the legal name policy was reflective of a law requiring students to be listed as such on official academic transcripts, and as such there was effectively nothing the college could do to make the policy more inclusive. The Equinox has since been informed there is no such law preventing an amendment of the policy.
If the college wishes to stand by this policy, we would prefer to see more open and honest communication about that decision and the rationale behind it. If there was a legal barrier preventing change from occurring, we would be sympathetic to the position that would put the college in, but given there is no such barrier, we would rather see the college own up to this policy than hide behind supposed legislation.
Currently, under the legal name policy, the only recourse for students who do not wish to have their legal name displayed is to opt out of being published as part of the Dean’s List at all. This turns something that should be a point of pride for these students into something sad and hurtful, forcing them to make the choice between being recognized by a name they do not identify with or going unrecognized.
Although transgender and gender-nonconforming students are some of the most likely to be impacted by this policy, we recognize that there is no shortage of reasons why a student might have a chosen name. In all cases, students who make the Dean’s List are achieving a commendable level of academic success and that success reflects to the general public and the higher education community as the college’s success in teaching them and fostering an environment where they can thrive. It is unfortunate to think that the school can reap the public relations benefits of these students’ achievements while giving them no respectful option for how they can be represented.
There is a Chosen Name Work Group at Keene State which is reviewing name-related policies at the college. The group will be able to make recommendations to the Academic Policy Committee about the legal name policy. We believe these parties need to take swift action to ensure all Keene State students can feel safe and the Dean’s List can be the proud recognition of academic excellence it is meant to be.
