Policy Spotlight Series

Each month the Chief Compliance Office will highlight a policy for its Policy Spotlight Series. This month focuses on the recently issued UC Gender Recognition and Lived Name policy:

UC Gender Recognition and Lived Name Policy

The new presidential policy ensures that all students, employees, alumni, and affiliates are identified by their accurate gender identity and lived or preferred name on university-issued identification documents and in UC’s information systems by providing guidance on the collection and reporting of gender identity, lived name and sexual orientation.

The University must provide a minimum of three equally recognized gender options on university-issued documents and IT Resource systems — woman, man and nonbinary – and the ability to easily change and update this status for all students, employees, alumni, and affiliates. The University is no longer asking for “sex assigned at birth” or “sex as listed on birth certificate.”

A lived name is a self-chosen or personal and/or preferred professional name used instead of a legal name and can be one’s first name, middle name and/or last name or surname. Lived names are to be used whenever possible in the course of university business and education. The legal name of university students, employees, alumni and affiliates, if different than the individual’s lived name, must be kept confidential and must not be published on documents or displayed in IT Resource systems that do not require a person’s legal name.

The policy also notes that when the University is collecting information about sexual orientation, the following choices should be provided: asexual, bisexual, gay, heterosexual or straight, lesbian, and not listed above (which includes an optional open text box).

The policy went into effect on November 6, 2020 and the policy must be fully implemented by December 31, 2023. For more information about gender identity and recognition at UCR, visit the Task Force on the California Gender Recognition Act website or the LGBT Resource Center website.