In response to new guidance from the Trump administration that rescinded Obama-era policies regarding the rights of transgender students on college campuses, Denison released their response. The University reaffirmed its commitments to transgender students and their rights on campus.

With the many changes occuring at the federal level, the continued support of the University for the rights of current students is even more important.

The text of the response is below and can be found at this link: Transgender Rights at Denison

“On Wednesday, February 22, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education issued a joint Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) that rescinded and withdrew earlier guidance on transgender students’ Title IX rights that had been issued in May 2016 during the Obama administration. The earlier guidance sought to clarify, among other things, that Title IX provided protection against discrimination based upon gender identity and protected a student’s right to use the sex-segregated bathroom and/or locker room facility that corresponded with an individual’s gender identity.

While the February 22, 2017 DCL withdraws earlier guidance, it also states that students are not “without protections from discrimination, bullying, or harassment. All schools must ensure that all students, including LGBT students, are able to learn and thrive in a safe environment.”

Denison University remains committed to the rights of transgender people living, learning and working in our community, as captured in the following reaffirmation of our policy:

Denison University will not exclude, separate, deny benefits to, or otherwise treat differently transgender persons in any of its activities. This is to include the right of all people at the university to use the restroom and locker room of the individual’s gender identity. Restricting this right would be considered discrimination based upon sex and violate university policy. The university is committed to gender equity, and broadly considers rights and protections based upon sex to include biological sex, sexual conduct, gender, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation.”