New Indiana University Survey to Assess Needs of Transgender Students, Faculty, and Staff

Alumni Association Creates Ad Hoc Committee to Study Transgender Concerns

[BLOOMINGTON, IN] - Being a transgendered student, faculty member, or staff member at a university can be a challenging experience, especially when transitioning from one sex to another. The Indiana University's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Alumni Association (IU GLBT AA) would like transgendered individuals to find all of IU's eight campuses to be welcoming and accommodating of their needs.

To that end, the IU GLBT AA has established a one-year ad hoc Committee on Transgender Concerns. This committee has been tasked with determining exactly what the needs and issues might be of transgendered people who interact with the university, whether as students, faculty, staff, or alumni.

As its first step, the committee has created a survey to collect information in order to determine what the experiences of transgendered people are. These experiences, both good and bad, will help the committee determine in which areas the university is meeting the needs of transgendered people and in which areas it is not.

Armed with this information, the committee will likely push for awareness education of staff and make recommendations for policy and procedure changes that will help to remove any barriers that may currently be preventing complete participation by transgendered individuals. One recommendation likely to be made is to add "gender identity or expression" to the university's anti-discrimination policy.

The survey can be downloaded from the IU GLBT AA website at
http://www.indiana.edu/~glbtaa/transsurvey.shtml.