While helping another student, Jorie Jarvis, work on the development of a Safe(r) Zone program for our campus, I stumbled across the Campus Pride Index. My school's review on this site, while generally positive, inspired me to undertake a project to increase my campus's LGBT- and queer-friendliness. After a couple weeks of brainstorming and talking to LGBT groups on campus (PANTS and Pride), I came up with a few project goals:
1. Update Green Mountain College's Policy of Non-Discrimination to better reflect Vermont state law by including "gender identity"; including gender expression, which is not expressly protected by Vermont state law, would also be helpful for queer students.
2. Develop a one-step record change process for transgender students who do not have legal documentation of their name/sex change.
3. Work with the school's Diversity Committee to update and correct our Campus Pride Index review.
As the end of the semester approaches, I am taking time to reflect on what I have accomplished thus far and what I still need to accomplish. While I did not plan for this to be a single-semester endeavor, I would like to have some concrete results before holiday break. To this point, much of my project has involved coordinating and meeting with college staff to talk about my project and possibilities for its implementation. Here is a short summary of my work to date:• Coordinated with student clubs concerned with LGBT and queer issues on reviewing our current Campus Pride Index review.
• Met with Joe Petrick, the Vice President of Student Life, to discuss my project and determine where to direct my efforts.
• Scheduled a meeting with Heidie Vazquez-Garcia, a Co-Chair of the Diversity Committee, to determine who filed the report that generated our current Campus Pride Index review and seek advice on accomplishing the other goals of my project.
• Presented my project to Student Senate to receive their official endorsement.
• Visited Sharon Hoffman, head of the Registrar's Office, and talked about the possibility of a one-step record change process for transgender students.
• Reconvened with Joe Petrick to get feedback on my project and to inquire about legal issues associated with the record-change process.
• Started working with the Noka Garrapy, the Associate Manager of Data Systems for the IT Department, to sort out the logistics of updating transgender students' records.
As the end of the semester approaches, some parts of my project are nearly complete. Student Senate has officially endorsed my recommendation to update our Policy of Non-Discrimination, and Joe Petrick directed me to an individual who should be able to update the policy. Coordination with all record-holding departments has led me to the conclusion that I should focus my efforts on working with IT and the Registrar's Office; the former deals with all the logistics of record-keeping and the latter authorizes changes. Updating our Campus Pride Index review will have to wait until next semester, but I have begun a conversation on this topic with the Diversity Committee, which is now looking for some student representatives. I will be applying for that volunteer position in hopes that I can help accelerate change on campus and promote the development of a campus culture that celebrates diversity.