Campus Community Members Soon Able to Designate Preferred Name on MySlice

Members of the Syracuse University community will soon be able to designate their preferred or chosen name on MySlice to indicate to others how they would like to be addressed.

The new policy, which will be implemented at the start of the spring semester, will assist people who use a name other than an official legal name to self-identify. This new University policy is the result of student advocacy; concerns and suggestions to the Chancellor’s Workgroup on Diversity and Inclusion; the work of the units involved in the planning, including Information Technology Services, LGBT Resource Center, Office of Registrar and Office of Human Resources; and the help and support of various campus community members.

The policy represents Syracuse University’s commitment to its students, faculty and staff by creating a comfortable, safe campus where all community members feel appropriately identified and recognized. It is also a reaffirmation of the University’s investment in advancing a diverse, inclusive and equitable campus.

“I’m very excited about this policy being implemented at Syracuse University. We’re joining a growing number of universities and colleges implementing similar policies that acknowledge and validate the complexity of people’s identities and the importance of self-identification,” says Tiffany Gray, director of the LGBT Resource Center. “We’ve heard from many members of the University community, especially students, and this supports our efforts in making Syracuse University a more inclusive campus where all feel welcomed.”

Preferred or chosen names—once entered in MySlice—will appear in MySlice class and grade rosters, as well as in all places a name is used in the Blackboard Learning Management System. Preferred or chosen names will also appear in email display names in SU Mail for students and Exchange for faculty and staff.

The function on MySlice, which will be available as of Jan. 3, can be found using the View/Update Names page link found in the Personal Services section.

Under the new policy, a preferred or chosen name will not be shown on other types of records, such as all official correspondence and financial aid, due to operational and legal reasons. The University has the right to remove any preferred name due to misuse or abuse.

Members of the University community are encouraged to indicate to others how they would like to be addressed. Class rosters are updated frequently to allow faculty members to be aware of any changes in name preference.

This new policy is the start of a larger effort to create more options for personal identity management. The University will make further announcements as more places to use a preferred name are added to University systems.

The University’s Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, Sam Scozzafava Jr., is the policy administrator. “I will be identifying and working with an advisory group that will facilitate future policy updates,” says Scozzafava. “This group will also coordinate related changes to MySlice. I encourage anyone with questions or suggestions about the policy or its implementation to send a message to the advisory group at PreferredNamePolicy@syr.edu.”

For more information, visit a list of FAQs on the new policy.