Resources for Transgender and Gender Variant Students
Brown is a vibrant, interactive community that celebrates the diversity of views, interests, passions, experiences, identities and life histories brought to campus by our students, faculty and staff. We support that commitment to campus diversity through a range of supportive services and educational programming. Students who identify as transgender or gender variant are encouraged to be aware of and make use of the following resources and information as needed:
- LGBTQ Center
- Brown email address using preferred first name
- Faculty communication
- Gender neutral bathrooms
- Physical and mental health
- Student housing
LGBTQ Center
Established at Brown in 2004, the LGBTQ Center provides a comprehensive range of education, information and advocacy services and works to create and maintain an open, safe, and inclusive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning students, faculty, and staff, their families and friends, and the campus community at large. The LGBTQ-RC also sponsors many student groups, programs, and the Renn Mentoring Program, as well as Safe Zone training for University faculty, staff and students. Additional information is available on the LGBTQ Center website.
Brown email address using preferred first name
When they enroll at Brown, every student is assigned an email address that is in the format firstname_lastname-AT-brown.edu (there are some variations created when two or more people at Brown have the same firstname and lastname). Students should record any legal name change with the Office of the Registrar.
A transgender student may a) request that the firstname in their email address be changed to a preferred firstname without a legal name change and/or b) retain their assigned email and request an alias (e.g., Washington-AT-brown.edu). Endorsements of email change requests come through the Office of Student Life. For more information about these options and to make a request, please email us at OSL@brown.edu with your request, including your preferred alternate email, your current email address and class year. We will contact you about your request; once we send a notice of endorsement to Computing Accounts, they will create the alternate address and will notify you (and us) by email when the change is complete. There will in the future be an electronic form to make it easier for you to request an alias for your Brown email address.
The change to preferred firstname is for email only. Currently we are not able to provide a preferred firstname that pushes out through all of the various computing and information management systems in the University. Schools that have a single system have an easier task to present a preferred first name at all points where a student interacts with the system. (See Health Services, Psychological Services, Student housing, below.) At this time, class lists and information available to faculty and staff on-line will continue to show legal firstname rather than preferred. For more information click HERE.
Assistance with Faculty Communication
Given that, at this time, class lists available to faculty will continue to show legal firstname rather than preferred, individual faculty will need to be notified of your preferred name and pronouns. The University can provide assistance and support in a variety of ways. We can help you think through how to speak with your faculty if you want to do this yourself, we can provide a short letter that you can present to your faculty, or we can send a letter to your faculty on your behalf.
For more information about these options and to make a request, please click HERE.
Gender Neutral Bathrooms
The University continues to work to increase the number of single-user (and therefore gender neutral) bathrooms in academic, administrative, and residential buildings. The LGBTQ Center website provides a list of locations of gender neutral bathrooms.
Physical and Mental Health
Brown Health Services and Brown Psychological Services strive to provide trans-sensitive care. Providers can accommodate a preferred firstname for in-house appointments and visits once you give it and ask them to use it.
Brown Health Services is available to all actively-enrolled Brown students as part of the mandatory Student Health Fee. Health Services provides health care, pharmacy, lab and x-ray services for students; as well as emergency medical services for students, faculty, staff and visitors to Brown. On-line information on transgender health includes Q/A about Health Services visits for trans students.
Health Education, a department of Brown Health Services, has a website that spans many informational topics: alcohol, tobacco, other drugs; nutrition & eating concerns; lgbtq health; men’s health; women’s health; sexual assault & dating violence; sexual health; and common college health issues.
Psychological Services provides free, confidential counseling to actively-enrolled Brown students – offering counseling for personal growth, crisis support, short-term psychotherapy and referral. Students from all of the diverse backgrounds in the Brown community use Psychological Services – during times of crisis and high stress, when their usual coping mechanisms are not working well, or when they are faced with making difficult decisions.
Student Housing
Housing for Undergraduate Students
The Office of Residential Life provides housing for undergraduate students, who are required to live on campus through their sixth semester. First-year undergraduates are required to live on campus and in first-year Units; first-years are assigned a room and a roommate. New transfer students are assigned on-campus housing during the summer.
Any student who has a gender or gender identity related concern can speak with the Associate Director of Residential Life about housing options by phone or email. When completing the required New Student Housing Questionnaire in the summer prior to their arrival on campus, incoming first-year or transfer students may request a confidential conversation about their individual housing questions. Such requests are usually from students who identify as transgender or gender variant and ask that their housing take into account their gender identity and/or gender expression. Facilitated by a personal conversation with the Associate Director of Residential Life, Natalie Basil, incoming students who indicate a need for this housing option will be assigned to rooms with thought and consideration about what type of room, facility amenities, roommate matching process and building location will best meet a student's individual needs; first-year students will be assigned to rooms in a first-year area. The Associate Director will also be in touch with any student whose gender as indicated on the housing questionnaire does not match the legal sex as recorded in University records. All residential staff receive education and training around gender identity and gender expression.
After the first year, undergrads select where and with whom they live on campus. Brown has a Gender-Neutral Optional Housing Policy for students in their sophomore year and above. Rising seniors and rising juniors may apply for permission to live off campus.
Additional information is available on the Residential Life website. Look specifically for information about housing for students who identify as gender variant or transgender by searching on “transgender” in the ResLife website.
Housing for Resumed Undergraduate Students
While Resumed Undergraduate Education (RUE) students are welcome in residence halls and may participate to select on-campus housing, they are exempted from the requirement to live on campus. Resumed Undergraduate Students who wish to live on campus and have questions about gender accommodation, are encouraged to contact the Associate Director of Residential Life, as described above.Additional information is available on the policy section of the Residential Life website.