Just a clarification, we only assign a sex to a student for IPEDS reporting or when another external requestor prohibits a third category. For internal reports, including enrollment reports on our website, we no longer assign but report a third category of N=other/unknown.
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Chris Fastnow, PhD
Director
Office of Planning and Analysis
Montana State University
PO Box 172435
Bozeman, MT 59717-2435
406-994-2870
www.montana.edu/opa
From: MACRAO Listserv [mailto:MACRAO@LISTSERV.GFCMSU.EDU] On Behalf Of Gresswell, Kandi
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2017 8:38 PM
To: MACRAO@LISTSERV.GFCMSU.EDU
Subject: Re: Sex/gender change question
Hi Joe,
The challenge that MSU Bozeman is having is that the gender marker(which is used for sex…looks like you've found that perplexing detail) is binary, which doesn't accommodate many of our students. Currently, if a student leaves the gender blank on their application, my understanding is that the Office of Planning and Analysis researches the student and makes a "best guess" for reporting purposes where gender is required. I've had conversations with two analysts regarding this practice which is frustrating for the students and the OPA folks who have to make the guess. I would guess that the reason the field was left blank is because the student didn't feel either gender correctly captured their gender/sex.
We've continued working on/have in place:
1) Gender-neutral restrooms
2) Gender inclusive housing
3) Chosen name pilot
4) Best practices for faculty
5) 1 GA position dedicated LGBTQIA programming
http://www.montana.edu/lgbtq/support.html
I hope this helps!
Thank you!
Kandi
Kandi Gresswell
Associate Registrar
Montana State University
101 Montana Hall
PO Box172660
406.994.2603
From: MACRAO Listserv [mailto:MACRAO@LISTSERV.GFCMSU.EDU] On Behalf Of Joseph Simonsen
Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2017 9:10 AM
To: MACRAO@LISTSERV.GFCMSU.EDU
Subject: Sex/gender change question
Good morning!
Between the Obama-era's "Dear Colleague" letter regarding Title IX and trans students, and then the recent administration's…I don't know…muffled walk-back of that "Dear Colleague" letter, how do your campuses handle situations where an applicant or student wishes to change their sex in your SIS? If I understand rightly, it seems that we have the option of following the original "Dear Colleague" letter; it just won't be enforced by the current DoE. So I'm wondering:
- Has your campus created new policies or practices for handling and changing sex/gender to align with that "Dear Colleague" letter? If so, omg please share?
- If not, what are your pre-letter policies/practices?
- How do your policies, processes, and applications account for the inconsistent and sometimes inaccurate use of language regarding "sex" vs "gender"? Banner, for instance, records "gender" but means "sex." Montana law does the same, and a quick spot-check seems to show that a lot of our applications do as well. But for students to whom it matters, they definitely know the difference between "gender" and "sex" and will self-report accordingly. So….how do we ask a student to follow a process for changing their sex in Banner, when "sex" was literally never requested or recorded?
I don't think students should be at the mercy of SIS software or an IPEDS report, but I also don't want to get cross-wise with the feds. I appreciate your expert advice!
| Joe Simonsen | |
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