The Michigan Daily

The University Board of Regents voted yesterday to add gender identity and gender expression as protected categories in the non-discrimination clause of the University bylaws, ending a four-year debate.

The vote was 5 to 2, with Regents Andrew Richner (R-Grosse Pointe Park) and Andrea Fischer Newman (R-Ann Arbor) voting against the proposed change. Richner and Fischer Newman could not be reached for comment.

The decision is a victory for activists who have long argued that the non-discrimination policy didn't adequately protect transgender faculty and students.

The issue gained steam in 2003 when then-provost Paul Courant created a task force to investigate conditions for transgender students on campus. The taskforce issued a report in 2004 encouraging the Regents to consider revising the non-discrimination policy to include gender identity and expression.

In 2005, the University began adding an asterisk next to the word sex with a footnote that said the protection of students and faculty based on sex encompassed gender identity and gender expression. Some activists said that fix sent the message that gender identity wasn't as important to protect as other categories.

The Michigan Student Assembly, the Lecturers' Employee Organization and the Senate Assembly - the main representative bodies of University students, lecturers and tenured faculty - have all urged the regents to make the revision. Senate Assembly passed a resolution last year and MSA passed a resolution yesterday urging the regents to approve the change.

Regent Larry Deitch (D-Bingham Farms) was unable to attend the meeting because he was in Asia on business, but sent a letter to the regents voicing his support for the amendment. Regent Martin Taylor (D­-Grosse Pointe Farms) read Deitch's letter to the regents yesterday before they voted on the change.

Deitch and Rebecca McGowan (D­-Ann Arbor) sponsored the last change to the wording of the non-discrimination clause. That revision, passed in September 1993, explicitly protected University students and employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation.

"From the standpoint of personally having had a positive impact on the culture of our University, it is my proudest achievement as a regent," Deitch wrote in the letter.

Deitch said he considers this change another necessary step toward equality on campus.

"I enthusiastically and wholeheartedly endorse this amendment, and would be voting for it were I able to be present," Deitch wrote. "As in 1993, this very simple change will have a profound positive impact on the culture of our community."

Four University students and one University alum urged the regents to approve the measure during the meeting's public comment period, which was moved to the beginning of the meeting so the regents could hear the speeches before voting.

Law School alum Denise Brogan-Kator, who is transgender, told the regents that she has been fired three times throughout her career because of her gender identity and worried that she would face discrimination while studying at the University.

She said she was disappointed by how long it took to add the phrase to the University's non-discrimination policy. Ninety-two other colleges have similar wording in their bylaws, Brogan-Kator said.

LSA senior Jen Hsu, the co-chair of MSA's LGBT Affairs commission, said the University's decision would send a message to other colleges, despite the delay.

"We can't go back, but today is the day when we can begin going forward," Hsu said. "Today, we can still set precedent for so many other higher educational institutions across our nation, because when Michigan takes a stand, others take notice."

The University's Non-Discrimination Clause

The language added yesterday is in bold.

The University of Michigan is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination and equal opportunity for all persons regardless of race, sex, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, or Vietnam era veteran status. The University also is committed to compliance with all applicable laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action.

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