To the Editor of the Stater:

Thank you to Morgan Stough for the story, Title IX includes LGBQT, in last week’s Stater. The story gives me the opportunity to say “thank you” to WSC Administrators for their work on behalf of the transgender student population on campus. Members of the PRIDE student organization have been asked periodically to give input on the question of what would make the campus environment more welcoming and provide equal access, particularly to transgender students.

Two specific requests were brought forward last spring. One, a request for a “preferred name” category on the application to WSC, was brought up at a meeting of the Presidents of the Multicultural Center Student Organizations with President Rames last spring. Thank you to President Rames for working to make “preferred name” a category on the application. I have been assured through an email from President Rames this semester that Dr. Jeff Carstens and John Dunning are working to resolve the complexities of this request. Thank you, also, to Cheri Parramore at the Registrar’s Office for expressing her support this semester in a phone call made on behalf of a student to discover the progress of this project.

The second, a request for the designation of the two small restrooms on the catwalk in the Kanter Student Center to be changed from Men and Women to Unisex, was made through a petition drive and meeting with Vice-President Jeff Carstens, last April/May. Thank you to Dr. Carstens for assuring the students that he is in favor of the re-designation of the restrooms in the student center. Students are looking forward to that change.

Thank you to Matt Weekley for reminding the campus so diligently about the requirement of Title IX to provide “safe and nurturing environments for all students, including transgender”students.
Most of all, thank you to the WSC population of transgender students for their patience, as they work out the logistics of finding a restroom on campus that they feel comfortable using and as they face being called by a name in the classroom and in the residence halls that negates their gender identity, both of which add to the risk of experiencing dysphoria on a daily basis.

Embracing the change…
Karen Granberg, LMHP
WSC Counseling Center
Pronouns: she, her, hers