Seeking to raise awareness of transgender issues on campus, Student Union Senator at Large Lucy Wen ’18 has distributed a survey via email to the community on the use of preferred pronouns and names on University-issued forms of identification.

Wen said in an interview with the Justice that she first learned of the issue by talking to Felix Tunador, the Intercultural Center’s current program coordinator for sexuality and gender iversity about potential methods of making the campus more transgender and gender non-binary-friendly. “We talked about how we wanted the ID cards to be changed so that the transgender people — or anyone who wants their preferred names on their card instead of their legal name — could have their preferred names on their ID so that when people call their cards, they won’t feel embarrassed,” Wen said.

She added that her next step was to approach the campus card office to discuss how feasible that change might be. The card office, she said, told her that the change likely wouldn’t be feasible in the short-term, as the cost to re-issue cards to students would be significant. She added that she has run into difficulties with the IDs needing to be a legal form of identification, though she mentioned the possibility of having the students’ preferred name on the front and legal name in smaller print on the back.

With this idea in mind, Wen decided to gauge how many students would support the initiative on campus, as well as how many would directly benefit from this change. “By doing this [survey], we can show … that a lot of students are supporting this, and if we get the data, we’ll have the confidence to talk to administrators ... about policy changes,” she said.

Though she initially hoped for 15 percent of the student body to participate in the survey, Wen said she’s only gotten about 8 percent so far, or 250 individuals, though the survey will still be open for another week. She added that her goal is to analyze the data collected through the survey and bring the results to administrators as a bargaining chip for change. “We can say, ‘This will benefit a lot of people.’ And it’s Brandeis, you know? We’re known for social justice; we should be walking in front of every other university. We should be leading them in creating a more comfortable environment for transgender people and all members in Brandeis,” she said.

She stated that so far approximately 30 percent of respondents have stated that they would prefer a different name on their ID, and many others said that they would support the change, even though they would not directly benefit from it. Wen said she was pleasantly surprised to see such widespread support, adding, “I’m really glad to see people caring about this, and it really shows that Brandeis students are really receptive towards ... transgender people.”

Wen is working with the Senate Social Justice and Diversity committee, which she co-chairs with Bethlehem Seifu Belaineh ’16, the Racial Minority Senator. She noted that Belaineh has been focusing more on diversity initiatives while she has taken the lead on gender and sexuality initiatives. According to Wen, the committee — which also includes non-Senate members like Kira Levin ’17 and Maryanne Cai ’16 — has also been focusing on creating a more inclusive space for international students.

“They’re the diversity, and we don’t want to just throw them there and say ‘you’re the diversity’; we want them to get involved with us and let the diversity function,” she said.

She added that one of the current goals of the committee is to host a speaker event with Dr. Yu-Hsien (Sharon) Wu, whose lectures focus on acclimating international students to the American university system and way of learning.

Outside of the pronouns survey, Wen stated, the committee has also helped the Rape Crisis Center with its consent campaign, which has sought to post fliers with hotline numbers and other services all over campus.

Independently, Wen has also been pushing for enclosed shuttle shelters for the winter months and for getting a website up for students to view and sign up for professors’ office hours.