Pride parades (pictured above) celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. Some concerns from the community have recently fixated on how the college and the country as a whole accommodate transgender individuals’ needs, given the proposed change to Trump administration policy (Courtesy of Creative commons).
Some students have questions over the approach that Geneseo has taken to provide proper resources to transgender and gender non-conforming students. Members of the college community have also condemned the proposal in the United States Department of Health and Human Services that would severely narrow the definition of gender.
Students who transition while at college often experience intentional or unintentional slights—known as microaggressions—by other people on campus, according to Chief Diversity Officer robbie routenberg.
“It’s hard to say how often [microaggressions] might happen because a lot of students wouldn’t necessarily think to report everything that happens,” routenberg said. “It’s fair to assume that people might say something that they don’t realize would hurt someone else due to lack of knowledge about it, but it still does hurt those people. If anyone does experience [microaggressions], they should feel free to come to us to report or to just talk about it.”
Biology major first-year Vimbayi Mandizha felt that the college approaches this issue with good intentions but fall short.“There’s definitely efforts that people [from the college] make to accommodate student’s needs,” Mandizha said. “I think people try to show they care … but I feel like if the vast majority of people are ambivalent or feel negatively about it, things won’t really change.”
On Sunday Oct. 21, The New York Times published a report about how the Trump administration has considered determining gender as “as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth.” Some transgender Americans nationwide have viewed the proposal as a painful political tool, according to The New York Times.
The move to redefine what gender means has come on the heels of similar attempts at the national level that some feel excludes those that don’t conform to gender norms.
routenberg emphasized that despite what changes might occur in the federal government, New York and Geneseo have policies that would protect members of the community who don’t fit the gender they were assigned at birth.
“We plan to protect students regardless of what the federal government defines in gender,” routenberg said. “We have rules and policies that mean that we are mandated to keep our students’ interests in mind. Beyond that, Geneseo’s values also mean that we prioritize inclusivity and a safe learning environment for students.”
routenberg specifically highlighted the Enough is Enough policy requiring the college to adequately address student’s needs regardless of gender.
Mandizha believes that to change the treatment of transgender people in Geneseo or beyond, people in the broader community must begin to voice their views.
“If you see a small group of people who are vocal about it, but the majority people don’t care, it’s going to take a long time for things to change,” Mandizha said. “People need to start to be more aware and more vocal about things. At the end of the day, these are real people and real needs that they have.”