The "Policy on Preferred Names" allows students and faculty to choose names that better reflect their identify, officials said.
GLASSBORO -- Rowan University has launched a new policy to ensure students and faculty are addressed by their "preferred names," according to an announcement the school issued Tuesday.
Called the "Policy on Preferred Names," the goal is to ensure students and staff are addressed by the name that "affirms, reflects, and/or expresses their gender, culture, and/or other aspects of their social identity in the classroom and to conduct general business."
Under the policy, Rowan faculty and staff are expected to respect an individual's request to be known by that preferred identify, officials said.
The school's IT department had to update systems to allows for the preferred name option in its system. Priority was given to student IDs, student email and other student-oriented systems.
There are a wide range of reasons why someone might choose the "preferred name" option, explained Rowan spokesman Joe Cardona. That includes anything from preferring to be called by a nickname to a matter of gender identity.
By the time they get to college, students typically feel more comfortable about issues of sexual orientation, since the atmosphere tends to be more accepting, he explained.
"So this allows a student to change the name that they are called by a professor," Cardona said.
For other students, the preferred name could be an expression of pride in their culture or religion, "or a statement of independence from an abusive parent after whom they are named," according to the announcement issued by Carl "Tobey" Oxholm III, executive vice president for Administration and Strategic Advancement.
The decision to start with students was driven by the difficulties they would face in pursuing a legal name change and the "threat of harassment, bullying and possibly violence that has been inflicted on people -- especially young people -- having a legal name reflective of one gender and a presentation reflective of another," according to Oxholm's announcement.
Rowan establishes all-gender restrooms
The name change does not affect legal names or documents that require use of legal names.
"It's just a preferred name on campus," Cardona said. "The point of it is not to try to disguise who people are ... it's to accommodate people to make their lives easier."
In addition to interest from students, the school has also seen interest from faculty and staff.
The service will be offered to employes by the end of the year.
"Calling people by the names they prefer is a strong expression of our commitment to diversity," Oxholm added.
Students must apply for the preferred name change and each request goes through a review process.
When it comes to issues of identity -- specifically gender identity -- Rowan has taken several steps in recent years.
The school established "all-gender" restrooms on campus in 2014. That move was driven by efforts from students in the LGBTQA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Asexual) college community to achieve gender equality on campus.
Rowan is one of three New Jersey universities that announced last year it would offer students a health care plan that includes gender identity disorder coverage. This coverage includes counseling, hormone therapy and could include sex reassignment surgery.
Rowan implementing a preferred name policy [?] [?] [?]
-- dayman (@worm407) January 15, 2016
I wish Rowan implemented this preferred name thing even when I went there because I could have changed my name to Subway
-- Brianne O'Leary (@floydlumpkin) January 18, 2016
Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.