Spring Break
Board of Regents grants transgender protection
System policy will defend 'gender identity or expression'
Karline Koehler
Issue date: 2/17/05 Section: Campus News
"I feared for my physical safety to go into the men's restroom ... but legally in the state of Wisconsin, if I had gone into the women's bathroom I could have been arrested," she said.
Barrett, a member of the UW System's Inclusivity Initiative committee, said making the protection an official part of System policy will aid in recruitment and retention of students and faculty.
"As the UW System tries to create excellence across the board ... excellence includes being able to get the best and the brightest, no matter what groups they belong to," Barrett said.
"Everybody has to feel welcome and (that) they would be valued in our system."
Janiuk said her own experiences with harassment and employment discrimination have motivated her to speak out, despite the risk.
"I was very welcomed here on campus," she said. "I was just worried that in other situations other students might not be. Just because I have been lucky does not mean other people will."
The University of California and the University of Minnesota also explicitly include transgender individuals in their nondiscrimination policies, according to United Council.
"Transgender is a concept that's coming into its own, and I think it's going to become more prominent in the next couple of decades," Janiuk said.
"It's going to be an issue eventually, and its better that we handle it before we run into these problems later."
Barrett, a member of the UW System's Inclusivity Initiative committee, said making the protection an official part of System policy will aid in recruitment and retention of students and faculty.
"As the UW System tries to create excellence across the board ... excellence includes being able to get the best and the brightest, no matter what groups they belong to," Barrett said.
"Everybody has to feel welcome and (that) they would be valued in our system."
Janiuk said her own experiences with harassment and employment discrimination have motivated her to speak out, despite the risk.
"I was very welcomed here on campus," she said. "I was just worried that in other situations other students might not be. Just because I have been lucky does not mean other people will."
The University of California and the University of Minnesota also explicitly include transgender individuals in their nondiscrimination policies, according to United Council.
"Transgender is a concept that's coming into its own, and I think it's going to become more prominent in the next couple of decades," Janiuk said.
"It's going to be an issue eventually, and its better that we handle it before we run into these problems later."
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futuretherapist
futuretherapist
posted 2/19/05 @ 8:52 PM CST
I am an undergraduate student at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. I am a Social Worker student and I am a post-operative secondary transsexual lesbian. (Continued…)
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