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      Homecoming Courts & Name/Pronoun/Gender Change Policy

      • Home
      • Homecoming Courts & Name/Pronoun/Gender Change Policy

      Homecoming Courts & Name/Pronoun/Gender Change Policy

      • Posted by sidbalman
      • Categories Features
      • Date October 8, 2021

      Valerie Acosta, SAGA Club President

      ALPINE- Sul Ross has been making many changes to this university over the past year. Many of
      those changes are intended to create a more inclusive campus environment for the LGBTQ+
      community.

      For example, as of this semester the ResLife staff has been using name tags that include their
      pronouns. Furthermore, the Office for Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (ODEI) was established in
      August 2020 by then-new SRSU President Pete P. Gallego. As the coordinator for ODEI, Dr.
      Savannah Williamson offers Safe Space trainings to the Sul Ross community every
      semester.

      These Safe Space trainings may be requested by anyone in the university and tailored
      to specific audiences. For example, Sexual and Gender Alliance (SAGA), which is the
      university’s LGBTQ+ Pride and ally student group, intends to complete the training in the Fall of
      2021 as a way of creating a more inclusive student organization and supportive community
      environment.

      In her role as ODEI Coordinator, Dr. Williamson has also advocated for the adoption of new
      policies that promote equity and inclusion across our campuses. One such policy is the “SRSU
      Chosen or Preferred Name and Gender Policy,” which was approved and went into effect early
      in the Fall 2021 semester and is now available to all current members of the university. This
      policy allows any Sul Ross student or employee to change the first and middle names and/or
      gender markers that appear within internal documents and communications, including in Banner
      and on course rosters.

      Although this does not affect legal documents, the policy allows members
      of SRSU to align their personal information on campus with their gender-identity.

      This policy was established in response to complaints from several members of the incoming Class of 2025
      that their gender, pronouns, and names were not being respected by all members of the campus
      community.

      As the president of SAGA, I wish to enlist the help of Dr. Williamson to change certain
      traditions on the Alpine campus. With homecoming around the corner, I believe that one
      tradition in need of modernizing is to change the homecoming titles from “King and Queen” to
      gender-neutral titles that would allow for greater inclusion and representation among the student
      body.

      Having a gender-neutral titles for homecoming is a goal that I hope to achieve before I graduate
      from Sul Ross State University. By establishing gender-neutral titles for the homecoming court, I
      feel that the university would create a much more inclusive environment for anyone who
      identifies as non-binary, gender fluid, or gender-non-conforming. Such a change would also
      provide same sex couples with the opportunity to compete for homecoming titles.

      Even though we have an LGBTQ+ and ally organization (SAGA) on campus, I feel like the school is still not
      keeping up with norms that are being used in other universities. For example, Purdue University
      stopped using king and queen titles for homecoming and is one of many universities across the
      nation to adopt the titles of “Homecoming Royalty” to promote diversity and equality throughout
      their institutions. After Purdue adopted this policy on September 22, 2018, providing opportunity
      for more individuals to participate in homecoming traditions and compete for the crown,
      regardless of gender, their university experienced one of its most successful homecoming
      celebrations to date.

      It is now 2021. My hope is that this year will be the last that we see a Homecoming “King and
      Queen” at Sul Ross and that, moving forward, my fellow peers in the community are not
      excluded from our university traditions simply for being who they are.

      • Share:
      author avatar
      sidbalman

      Previous post

      Sul Ross Events: Homecoming
      October 8, 2021

      Next post

      Sul Ross COVID-19 Update
      October 16, 2021

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