Between the Gender Neutral Housing and the recent gay teen suicides, the treatment of LGBT students on campus has come into focus. As a transsexual male attending Northwestern, I have had experiences that not many others can relate to: few students can understand changing your sex and legal information from female to male. While the Northwestern administration may not mean any harm, some of the procedures on the books unnecessarily complicate the lives of students like me.

Undoubtedly, I have had some great experiences. Doris Dirks has helped me immensely, as has McCormick Dean Ellen Worsdall. Working with Mark D’Arienzo to figure out my housing situation was ridiculously easy, and any professors I’ve come out to over the past year and a half have been unanimously supportive.

Because of the acceptance I’ve felt from individuals in the administration, I was surprised when I started running in to road blocks while legally changing my information from female to male. Some policies on the books are reasonable: to change your name with Northwestern, you simply need a new Social Security card. However, NUIT’s website states that “your default [email] account username will never change,” meaning that even after a legal name change, your old name will remain your address. And while nicknames are available, your “real” account username is the one listed on the directory and seen by professors, prompting questions when a female account is associated with a male student. After talking to Doris Dirks and a couple of deans, it turned out this was not actually impossible. A couple months after originally inquiring, my e-mail address was changed.

Changing your legal sex with Northwestern, on the other hand, seemingly has no procedure at all. After asking one person at the Office of the Registrar, I was told I would need to bring in documents that do not exist. A few months later, a different person said that after I brought in certain documents, they would “determine whether [they] can move forward with the gender change.” While this response was more promising than the first, I still do not know whether my documentation – which will be enough proof for Social Security – will be enough for a change with Northwestern.

I do not question Northwestern’s support for my well-being, nor do I ever feel unwanted or unaccepted on this campus. However, I do not always see a supportive attitude reflected in the way some of the rules that are enforced.

Anonymous, McCormick junior

Note: The Daily Northwestern does not usually accept anonymous content, but after verifying the writer’s identity, it was decided anonymity would be appropriate in this circumstance.