‘Trans-allied Queer Lesbian’ — UA professors share gender pronouns, sexual orientation in ‘Out at UA’ page - 1819 News

TomAlright, this one's been rattling around in my head: ‘Trans-allied Queer Lesbian’ — UA professors share gender pronouns, sexual orientation in ‘Out at UA’ page. What's your first read?

CarolMy gut says putting "trans-allied" right there in the title is doing some weird work. It’s making a professor’s simple act of sharing her pronouns sound like a political pledge instead of just being human. Why does introducing herself at a university require her to pre-vet her stance on trans people?

TomYou're fixating on the label when the bigger issue is the university itself. Why is the administration running a public profile page where professors list their sexuality like it's a departmental requirement? That feels less like inclusion and more like a mandatory inventory.

CarolCalling it an inventory misses the point because nobody gets forced to fill out those profiles. Think about the student walking into class who has absolutely no idea whether it’s okay to use the name on the roster or the one whispered in the hall—knowing the prof listed “she” upfront saves them from guessing every single day.

TomPicture a grad student who’s already stressed about funding and suddenly sees their advisor listed as "out" in a directory they didn’t ask for—that’s the kind of quiet pressure that can make a whole office feel exposed. The university isn’t solving anyone’s problem by turning personal identity into a public data field; it’s just adding another layer of visibility nobody opted into.

CarolPicture a freshman who barely knows anyone and spends all week scanning emails for tiny clues about who is safe to talk to. Seeing that one clear marker in the directory gives them a starting map instead of leaving them stranded in a campus full of strangers. That grad student’s discomfort comes from assuming everyone shares his fear of exposure, but most students are just trying to figure out how to get help without getting rejected.

TomA map helps you find the library, Carol, not decide whether to trust the librarian. You’re still confusing safety with surveillance.

CarolFinding a room is easy compared to deciding if the person behind the desk will judge you. But think about the undergrad who needs to email a professor about a failing grade and keeps rewriting the subject line three times to make sure she hasn't accidentally misgendered him before hitting send. That directory lets her check once instead of agonizing over every interaction forever.

TomShe’s got a point that checking once beats agonizing over every email, but that assumes the directory actually stops the anxiety rather than just moving it elsewhere. The real gap here is that the page lists identities but doesn’t explain what a professor expects in return, which leaves students guessing about reciprocity anyway. That missing context turns a helpful tool into a half-answer.

CarolAsking for context is like handing someone a house key and expecting them to guess the furniture layout. The directory tells you who is safe to approach, which is the hardest part of surviving freshman year anyway.

TomWhat about the tenured faculty member who refuses to participate and now has to watch colleagues’ identities displayed right beside their own blank entry? That silent opt-out becomes its own statement in a shared directory, forcing non-participants to be visibly defined by absence rather than choice.

CarolA blank space isn't a statement, it's just empty paper. Tenure means you don't need a profile to prove you're safe to work with.

TomCalling a blank entry "empty paper" misses how directories force people to define themselves against each other. When you list pronouns side-by-side, silence reads as a position even when the person meant zero comment. That visual framing does more work than the text alone.

CarolSilence in a phone book never said anything to me; it just let me skip a name until I needed it. You’re turning a quiet refusal into a loud accusation because you want the page to do more than it can. Most people aren’t looking for a manifesto, they’re just trying to learn which office door opens without a lecture.

TomYou keep acting like the page owes us a philosophical treatise on why someone stayed silent, when all it really does is save a student from rewriting that subject line for the fourth time. It’s not a manifesto, it’s a quick reference, and judging the whole thing based on what the blank spaces mean is just picking fights with the margins. Let’s stop making a crisis out of a contact sheet.

CarolPicking fights with the margins is exactly what happens when you forget who’s holding the pen. The student doesn’t care about your tenured comfort zone; she cares about whether the professor knows her name and respects her boundaries before the first meeting. This page works because it removes the guesswork, not because it satisfies everyone’s desire for perfect clarity.

TomBut you’re still assuming every student has the safety net to figure out the unwritten rules on their own. Until we know if the UA administration actually tracks whether those profiles reduce student attrition, “removing guesswork” stays a nice theory rather than a proven outcome. The page helps the confident majority, sure, but it leaves the vulnerable minority wondering if the blank spaces are walls or just indifference.