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Syracuse University’s Student Association is working with SU’s Information Technology Services to increase pronoun options on widely-used campus sites, such as SU’s official service portal: MySlice.

After initially announcing its goals to increase “pronoun transparency” at a Feb. 19 meeting, the SA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee has met with ITS to coordinate the logistics of increasing students’ customization of their personal pronouns, said Tim Wong — SA’s DEI chair. He said the committee last met with ITS in late March.

“On MySlice, you can add pronouns like ‘she/her’ or ‘they/them,’ but you can’t have some other options,” Wong said. “People should be able to represent themselves however they feel best represents them.”

SU students can select their preferred pronouns on their MySlice personal profiles. The portal offers seven pronoun options — “he/him, he/they, no pronouns (use my name), she/her, she/they, they/them and ze/hir.” Users can also opt not to share their pronouns or request to be asked to share them.

The university then uses a student’s MySlice pronoun selection across several internal communications, including their SU Blackboard account, Orange Success online advising tool and the Patient and Wellness portal through the Barnes Center at The Arch, according to the ITS website.

Wong said he decided to focus on the initiative after receiving feedback from several of his non-binary and transgender friends on campus who expressed concern for the limited set of preferred pronoun options.

Reed Granger, SA’s current chief of staff and the vice president-elect of its 68th Session, said while they and President-Elect German Nolivos were not directly involved in the DEI committee’s “pronoun transparency” efforts, their administration hopes to further implement “LGBTQ spaces” at multicultural events and work closely with LGBTQ support organizations.

“I would like to see more events supporting (LGBTQ) spaces being spearheaded by Student Association, as a queer-identifying person myself, ” Granger wrote in a statement to The Daily Orange.

The Nolivos-Granger campaign previously highlighted diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, or DEIA, as one of its top priorities. Granger, who identifies as queer and uses “they/she” pronouns, said she hopes their administration will continue to address the perspectives of underrepresented communities.

MySlice does not allow students to create their own set of pronouns, and the university suggests that students who use pronouns not featured on the portal — such as certain “mixed” and “fluid” sets of pronouns — select the “ask me” feature. The university also takes recommendations for additions to its pronoun list through SU’s Pronoun, Gender, and Preferred Name Advisory Council, which can be reached at pgpnac@syr.edu.

Along with increasing the number of pronoun options available to students, SA’s DEI committee also aims to help educate students on how to disclose their pronouns on these sites, Wong said.

SU Microsoft 365 accounts offer complete customization of pronouns to its users, which are then disclosed when one’s account is viewed. However, Wong said many students have said they aren’t aware of this feature and don’t know how to add their pronouns to their accounts. Many manually add pronouns to their email signatures, he said.

To make students more aware of this feature, the DEI committee and ITS also plan to work to create an instructional guide for campus community members seeking to disclose their pronouns on Outlook.

SA does not plan to publish its pronouns guide this semester, Wong said, but members hope to continue its efforts into the next academic year. The DEI committee is prioritizing initiatives with a more pressing timeframe — such as its proposed inclusive graduation cap project — to conclude the semester, he said.

“It’s something we’re hoping to iron out next year,” Wong said. “Changing stuff on MySlice takes some time, but we’re optimistic.”

Published on April 14, 2024 at 10:14 pm

Contact Julia: jmboehni@syr.edu