The Michigan Daily - Monday, June 20, 2005 - 3
HEART BREAKER Students ask administration
for amendment to
By Lindsey Ungar
Daily Staff Reporter
Students continued to urge the
University to amend its nondis-
crimination bylaws to include "gen-
der identity and expression" at the
Regents meeting last Thursday.
Wolverine Coalition for Human
Rights - a student group formed
in January specifically to amend
the bylaws - has aimed to send six
speakers to each Regents meeting
since February.
If added to the bylaws, the clause
would protect "gender-related iden-
tity, appearance, expression or
behavior of an individual, whether
actual or perceived, and regardless
of the individual's assigned sex at
birth," according to the Coalition.
Kate Geitner, the head.of the Wol-
verine Coalition for Human Rights,
said the group has tried taking
an educational approach with the
Regents to demonstrate why explicit
protection in the bylaws is needed.
This month's speakers included
3Y Brett Beemyn, the coordinator of
EVon capeEL n ,i GLBT Student Services at Ohio
after the game State University. Ohio State added a
3-pont shot for the gender identity clause to its nondis-
crimination policy in Jan. 2004.
"The University's very public
too much time.
"I thought it was good that the administration is setting
strict parameters for Coke to follow, but it gives Coke a lot
of time to stall. The decision doesn't recognize the urgency
of the situation," Grimshaw said.
Rogers agreed with Grimshaw that time should have
been taken into greater consideration while making the
decision.
"I'm glad the University is moving .forward, but time
is of the essence. The fact is that there are a number of
workers and colleagues facing life or death situations right
now," Rogers said.
In a written statement, the Coalition said that the stu-
dents are committed to ensuring that the University carries
out a thorough third party investigation.
"Anything less than a truly independent investigation
will be deemed illegitimate," members of the coalition
wrote.
refusal to add "gender identity/
expression" to its nondiscrimination
policy creates an even worse climate
for transgender U of M students by
contributing to the devaluation of
gender-diverse people," Beemyn
said at the meeting.
In February, University Provost
Paul Courant sent an e-mail to the
entire campus saying that the Uni-
versity "will interpret and apply the
prohibition against sex discrimina-
tion in its equal opportunity and
non-discrimination policies to
include discrimination based on
gender identity and gender expres-
sion."
This did not include an addition
to the bylaws, but instead assured
the community that a 2004 6th US
circuit court case - Smith v. City
of Salem - said that gender iden-
tity and expression discrimination is
covered under sex discrimination in
the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Regent Martin Taylor said that
the University has not taken action
because of the court decision. He
said he feels that amending the
bylaws at this point would be largely
symbolic.
"(The revision) is something we
will have to consider," Taylor said.
LSA sophomore Jaya Kalra, co-
bylaws
chair of the Stonewall Democrats,
said the University is at risk if they
do not make the addition soon. Over
twenty-five colleges and universities
- including at least three schools
in the Big Ten - explicitly include
a gender identity and expression
clause within their policies.
"If we (at the University) want to
stay at the forefront of civil rights
and social justice, we have to address
this now," Kalra said. "We don't want
to lose our reputation as a leader (in
social justice issues)."
University spokeswoman Julie
Peterson reiterated the Provost's
stance that the University's existing
policies already promise protection
of gender identity and expression.
"Ourchallenge now istomake surewe
live up to that promise," Peterson said.
Two offices - Institutional Equity
and LGBT Affairs - are in the pro-
cess of working with departments
across campus to incorporate the
policy and provide education and out-
reach to the community.
Still, Beemyn said that after the
addition to Ohio State's nondiscrimi-
nation policy, other critical transgen-
der-supportive policies - including
changes to housing and student health
policies - were enacted.
See BYLAWS, page 8
COKE
Continued from page 1
goals of the Vendor Code of Conduct is to influence ven-
dors to exercise a high standard of conduct. I believe that
the recommendations are consistent with this goal," Slot-
tow said.
Slottow said that the solution that the DRB has proposed
allows the University to continue to positively influence the
way Coke does business by holding the threat of severing
the contract.
Even though members of the Coalition were slightly dis-
appointed by some of the terms of the decision, they still
counted it as a victory.
LSA junior Ben Grimshaw, an active member of the
Coalition who was recently appointed as a student repre-
sentative on the DRB, commended the University's strict-
ness with deadlines, but he felt that they gave the company
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