At the Undergraduate Student Government meeting tonight, Bill Albertini, associate professor in the department of English, discussed a former resolution USG passed in 2007 about “gender identity and gender expression language.” A group called the Inclusion Network (commissioned by former Provost Kenneth Borland’s office) wishes to get the above phrase added to the University’s nondiscrimination policy.
The group’s proposal defines “gender identity” as “the way in which an individual identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from the person’s sex assigned at birth.”
The proposal the identifies “gender expression” as “the external manifestation of one’s gender identity, usually expressed through ‘masculine,’ ‘feminine’ or gender-variant behavior, clothing, haircut,voice or body characteristics.”
The resolution was passed by USG, Graduate Student Senate and Faculty Senate in 2007 but then “just sort of stopped,” Albertini said.
The proposal refers to discrimination and gender. Albertini described the addition as “language that makes it clear that however one decides to act or dress … has nothing to do with the right to work at this University, be at this University or be a student at this University.”
Albertini asked President Mary Ellen Mazey to look at the proposal and see if it might be brought up at the December Board of Trustees meeting. Mazey responded by asking Albertini to see if the student support is still present by going back to USG and GSS.
Three USG senators will work on drafting a new resolution to vote on concerning the proposal.
University Libraries Dean Sara Bushong spoke to USG about the Learning Commons at the Jerome Library, as well as other new services the library offers.
“The library’s not at all like it was last year or the year before that,” Bushong said.
USG Senator Katie Post spoke to USG about United Way and a student group of at the University called “United Way, the Student Way.”
United Way is about giving, advocating and volunteering, but Post said the student group will focus more on advocating and volunteering.