Everybody has the right to feel comfortable in their own skin. They also should have the right to be called by the name with which they are comfortable as a student at MSU.
The preferred name policy — created and passed by ASMSU, MSU’s student government two weeks ago — will allow students to use a name other than their legal one, except on official MSU documents. For example, a student’s chosen name would be used when a professor takes attendance.
Such a policy will positively impact numerous of people who are uncomfortable with their given names, such as international students or transgender students.
For some, this might seem an arbitrary policy with little use, but those affected have every right to be comfortable.
The policy will help ensure students with a gender identity not indicated by their legal name wouldn’t be subjected to a potentially embarrassing encounter with a professor or classmates.
International students — a growing population at MSU — also will be able to adopt names easier to pronounce in English if they so choose.
This policy is important because it eases the minds of affected students and offers security in something so basic as an introduction on the first day of class.
If students would like to be called another name because many can’t pronounce it in English, or because of their gender, then it is absolutely their right.
However, this policy cannot yet be enacted with MSU’s outdated database software.
The student database dates back to the early 1990s and would need an update that would cost several thousand dollars to implement the preferred name policy, ASMSU Associate Provost Emily Bank said in the State News article “Universitywide preferred name policy bill passed” (SN 11/11).
It currently is unclear whether an updated system will be implemented.
Critics might say students will abuse this policy and put an outrageous name just to be funny. Every policy has the potential to be abused, but when there is a policy that will impact many students for the better, it should be enacted as soon as possible.
That’s also why it is worth the cost to update the database.
In the past 20 years, the amount and quality of technology has grown immensely. As a Big Ten university, there’s no excuse for MSU to allow avital system such as the student database to be that out of date.
And the cost of updating these databases is worth the comfort to students. The university should worry more about the student’s comfort rather than money.
When ASMSU passes a bill of this nature, it is important that the university implements it, or it defeats the purpose of having a student government.
There is no point in having a student government when the policies they propose that will help students aren’t implemented by the university.
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