RPS includes transgender students

Ethan Jackson is a 19-year-old freshman and a direct admit to the Kelley School of Business. He is from Bluffton, a small town in northern Indiana, where he has lived his whole life.

Ethan Jackson is also a transgender male, a distinction that the University attempts to honor through its housing assignments.

Born female, Jackson decided to transition last summer after a trip to New Zealand, where he lived with relatives. He had not decided anything previously, but the trip to New Zealand helped him make his decision to change, Jackson said.

“Through growing up, sometimes gender is complicated, and you just figure things out as you go along, and I decided adamantly that I wanted to do this,” Jackson said. “I decided it in New Zealand, but I really already knew what was going on. I just didn’t know how I wanted to pursue it publicly.”   

After making the decision to transition, Jackson was fairly surprised at the ease with which the University allowed him to change, he said.

“What caught my eye first was the gender option when I signed up for housing,” Jackson said.

“There was, of course, the male and female option, but then there was a ‘transgender and other’ option as well, which was very interesting to me.”

Sara Ivey Lucas, assistant director for housing assignments for Residential Programs and Services, is responsible for helping students locate a place
to live.

“I make sure that the housing applications students fill out online have all the appropriate options, including what we call ‘self-reported gender,’” Lucas said. “There is a drop-down box where students can clearly say that they are a transgender student.”

When students apply to IU, gender is not a factor, but it is required information for housing so that RPS can place individuals in locations where they feel comfortable, Lucas said.

“When a student lets us know that he or she is a transgender, we let them know that someone from housing will contact them to make the process a little easier,” Lucas said. “We try to figure out where people are at in the transition process so that we can provide them with the proper support.”

While going through the housing process, Jackson had to give his name for legal purposes and was asked what he preferred to be called on campus. The University allowed Jackson to transition without having his name legally changed.

RPS recently implemented a new category in the housing application that allows students to enter a nickname they would prefer to go by while on campus, Lucas said.
The nickname box functions as a go-between for students so they don’t have to go through the arduous process of legally changing their names. They are allowed to go by their nicknames on campus, but their legal names are not changed on their University IDs.

“In order to change my ID card, I would have to legally change my name,” he said.  
Jackson said he plans to do that in a year or so.

Lucas said RPS locations are currently housing five transgender students.
“It is impossible to tell the total number of transgendered individuals enrolled at IU because there are obviously students who choose not to find housing through RPS,” Lucas said.

Being in a minority group makes doing different things on campus difficult sometimes, Jackson said.

When introducing himself to people, Jackson said he is often asked to repeat his name because his voice does not completely sound masculine yet.

“People are often taken aback when I am introduced because as queer-friendly as this University is, it is just not something that people run into every day,” Jackson said.
At the beginning of the school year, when Jackson was going through the housing process, he did not check the transgender option and was placed on an all-girls floor.

“I go by Ethan, and I go by male pronouns, and I am on an all-girls floor, which has been kind of interesting, but everyone has been surprisingly nice about it,” he said.

Besides having to worry about fitting in at college and studying, Jackson has the actual transition process pressing down on him, he said.

The process takes many years to complete and requires a lot of money, Jackson said.
“It is a very medicalized process, which is very annoying, actually,” Jackson said. “I took a gender studies course last semester, and it’s just kind of appalling how the process is. It is a very in-depth process, which takes a lot of time.”

If able to receive testosterone, Jackson will be required to go through six months of therapy. At the end of the six months, he will earn a letter of approval from his therapist, enabling him to receive testosterone.

The system makes it difficult for transgender individuals to get their letters, Jackson said.

“Only some states and doctors perform certain surgeries, and it takes a lot of time,” he said. “Five years from now, nothing else might be changed about me besides my legal name.”

Within a few years, Jackson plans to potentially go on hormones and legally change his name. He is considering top surgery, in which female breast tissue is removed to create a male-appearing chest, but it requires a lot of time due to the two-week recovery period.

Though Jackson does not claim to be a transsexual, he is still considering the procedure.

“I would eventually like to blend a little bit more, be a bit more masculine by the time I am seeking employment,” Jackson said. “The transition process takes a really long time, but through it, I am becoming more self-aware than I ever was.”