Overcoming the Challenges
Potential Policies and Practice
It is important to look at the literature both in terms of policy recommendations and how trans students and ally groups have addressed matters of discrimination.
What would an accepting and inclusive campus look like?
Major areas of focus include...
- Writing policy to include protection of trans students rights
- Designating areas of inclusion and sensitivity
- Providing gender-inclusive bathroom/locker rooms
- Creating gender-inclusive options for housing
- Providing trans student support services and training workshops for faculty, staff and non-trans students to create a more inclusive atmosphere that is receptive to change
- Making sure administrators and student leaders (like resident advisers) are kept aware of policies and practices for trans students
- Ensuring that resources are not labeled for specific genders as it can marginalize trans students using this binary systems
Josephine
The student, Josephine, is a male-to-female transgender student who discovered that in her Texas university’s statement on nondiscrimination that there was no language on gender identity or expression. Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed argues that faculty and staff can act as oppressors quite easily. “First, the oppressed bring attention to the reality of oppressive practices and discriminatory acts. Once oppression becomes visible, a shared pedagogy emerges in which the oppressed and oppressors engage in the process of sustained emancipation” (Case et al 148).
One particular study examined the student experience versus activism, most specifically on the experiences of five transgender students at a public university in the mid-west United States. The experiences of these students varied, however, each student had in common incidents of marginalization from both faculty and fellow peers, particularly in responses to coming out and to using of correct pronouns. This emphasizes how others play a large role in creating a safe space for the transgender student; much of the student’s treatment depended on the pre-existing climate of the university and its departments. Some students experienced little resistance and a lot of support, while one student dropped out of her STEM program after facing strong resistance from faculty and peers.
Name
At Western Washington University, name shares his experience in transitioning while a member of the crew team. He also shares his case study on transgender rights within the NCAA, discovering a double standard as to how transgender men and transgender women are treated in collegiate athletics. His work was to help make a transgender inclusive document for the NCAA, but found that the rules created by the NCAA are unfair towards female transgender women.
"Although one can learn from the experiences of transgender students in the classroom, placing the responsibility of educating others (faculty, staff, and peers) on them inherently marginalizes and places them at risk for unwanted harassment. Regardless of field of study, faculty must provide positive learning environments for all students” (Pryor, 452).
The college campus climate includes many factors; the resources, the academic policies, current and future students, and faculty and staff. In examining the above resources, it is seen that a campus climate can also vary from student to student due to differing viewpoints. The importance of individuality in treatment needs to be heavily stressed. Each student is different and will need different accommodations or resources. The push for individual treatment is not new to higher education; offices of academic accommodation help students with learning disabilities thrive in college by creating learning plans and working with faculty. There is a need on college campuses for more resources and respect for transgender students.
