The UW's new "Preferred Name Policy" — so "when the teacher is calling role you don’t have to out yourself."

Announced by the Associated Students of Madison Diversity Committee. Do you see what problem this is a solution to?

In the pilot program that will begin in August, students will be able to specify the name they would like to be identified by on class lists. The policy is geared toward groups such as international students that go by an English name and certain members of the LGBTQ community.

“If your name is legally Jane but you go by James, then on a class roster it would have your legal name, but then also your preferred name,” [Diversity Committee Secretary Madison] Tully said. “Then when the teacher is calling role you don’t have to out yourself.”

Actually, this is a helpful policy. I rely on the roster in class, and it can get complicated. I'm already putting the students on the spot by calling on them, and I don't want to embarrass anyone. I want to use the name that's the name they go by.

There have been times when I've called on a student who looks male with a name that's obviously female — e.g. Amy. But that was because I was using a seating chart and the student was sitting in Amy's seat. I repeated the "Amy" more than once, with the student giving me some very strange looks. But what could I do? Who am I to judge what an "Amy" should look like? What if that was Amy? How retrograde would I have seemed if I'd said "You can't be Amy"?