SA R14 (2015-2016): Collecting LGBTQ+ Demographic Data

Deferred by the President

• Resolution:
  SA R14 (2015-2016): Collecting LGBTQ+ Demographic Data
• Day:
  December 17, 2015
• Action:
  Deferred by the President
• Summary / Notes:
• File Attachments:
• Text Attachment:
  Dear Juliana,
  
  Thank you for sharing SA Resolution 14: Collecting LGBTQ+ Demographic Data. I appreciate the Student Assembly’s efforts to enhance outreach from the LGBT Resource Center with the goal of improving the undergraduate experience for students who identify as LGBTQ+. I firmly support efforts to enable students to self-identify their preferred gender.
  
  Rather than focusing mainly on a specific mechanism (undergraduate applications), a Towards New Destination initiative already underway for 2015-16 addresses the spirit and goal of Resolution 14. University Registrar Cassie Dembosky is leading an analysis of the possibilities and challenges associated with enabling all Cornell students to self-select their preferred gender and preferred name, and to indicate their sexual orientation. She is working with Brian Patchcoski, director of the LGBT Resource Center, to invite a working group with membership from interested parties across campus to join in conducting this analysis. I understand they will be reaching out to the SA and the GPSA in this process as well. Their analysis and working group will consider self-selection of preferred gender, name, and sexual orientation for all matriculated Cornell students and will also discuss these issues related to applicants. With Cornell’s selective undergraduate admissions rate (15%), the applications stage (Common App & Universal College App) may not be the most appropriate place to solicit these different types of student identity information, especially if the goal is to enable enrolled students to find campus resources. Instead, this information might be more effectively conveyed or collected at later stages of the enrollment process for those admitted.
  
  Whether such preferred designation for each of these identity characteristics would be best accomplished through the admissions application, through the New Students website and orientation process, through Student Essentials, or through some other mechanism remains to be determined through this analysis. Implications associated with student records policies, business practices, and information systems will need to be considered, including who will have access to such information, under what conditions, and for what purposes.
  
  Again, thank you for your attention and advocacy on such an important set of issues. I am committed to enabling students to self-identify gender, preferred name, and sexual orientation. I am looking forward to the recommendations coming out of the related 2015-16 Toward New Destinations initiative.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Elizabeth Garrett
  
  
  Elizabeth Garrett
  President, Cornell University
  300 Day Hall
  Ithaca, NY 14853
  (607) 255-5201
  www.cornell.edu