Faculty perceptions of chosen name policies and non-binary pronouns

ABSTRACT

As transgender students become an increasingly visible segment of college student populations, policies allowing students to indicate chosen names and pronouns will offer crucial support while also helping transform campuses into more gender-inclusive spaces. Successful implementation of these policies requires educated and supportive faculty. This case study examines faculty experiences with and perceptions of a pilot chosen names program and of students’ use of non-binary pronouns. We found broad support for both, but also found that some faculty either resisted or had struggled to use non-binary pronouns. We read these experiences through Airton’s [2018. “The de/Politicization of Pronouns: Implications of the No Big Deal Campaign for Gender-Expansive Educational Policy and Practice.” Gender and Education.] ‘extra/excessive effort’ framework related to non-binary pronouns. We also propose and draw on a framework for understanding transgender identity through ‘being’ narratives focused on internal identity rather than ‘becoming’ narratives focused on bodily transformation. We discuss how these theoretical frameworks help us understand faculty members’ responses, as well as implications for faculty training opportunities.

KEYWORDS:

• Chosen names and pronouns
• transgender
• non-binary pronouns
• faculty attitudes
• educational policy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 (We use ‘university’ to refer to both US colleges and universities. We also use ‘faculty member’ and ‘professor’ to mean college instructors at all levels. We use the term ‘faculty’ to refer to faculty members, plural.)