SHU Chosen Name Policy & Procedures

Introduction

The pursuit of inclusive excellence at Sacred Heart University (SHU) is grounded in the mission and core values of the institution. This Chosen Name Policy informs the SHU community of Sacred Heart’s commitment to honoring all persons’ identities: fostering genuine belonging in its learning, working and living environments.

A Chosen Name may be different from a person’s Legal Name. There are many reasons why someone may use a Chosen Name, such as a reflection of gender identity, as a nickname, or as a westernized or Americanized name.

Policy Statement

SHU recognizes that people may identify with a Chosen Name that is different from their Legal Name. SHU supports identification with a Chosen Name and is committed to identifying people only by their Chosen Name in SHU Publications and SHU Systems, except where identifying a person by their Legal Name is required by law, regulation or legitimate SHU purpose or the technical capability of the SHU System does not currently allow for it.

SHU further recognizes the importance of honoring a person’s identity in all settings.  SHU expects faculty, staff, and students to respect, honor and make good faith efforts to utilize only a person’s Chosen Name and pronouns when communicating with or about a person.

Where SHU Systems are not capable of displaying only a Chosen Name, or where SHU faculty and staff must otherwise access information that contains both a person’s Chosen and Legal Name, SHU expects faculty and staff make all reasonable efforts to limit the distribution of a person’s Legal Name only to those who have a need to know to carry out a SHU legitimate purpose consistent with this Policy.

Definitions

For purposes of this Policy, the terms below have the following meanings:

Legal Name is the name shown on a person’s valid passport, US birth certificate or other United States or US state government issued identification unless subsequently modified by a United States or US state court document, such as a marriage certificate or valid court order.

Chosen Name is the name a person uses consistently and publicly to identify themselves. SHU students, faculty and staff who would like SHU to use their Chosen Name must notify SHU by specifying their Chosen Name in the SHU System according to the Procedures Supporting this Policy. SHU is working to support the use of a Chosen Name for first, middle and last name fields in SHU Systems.

SHU Systems are all SHU technology systems that collect, use and/or manage the personal information of students, faculty and/or staff.

SHU Publications are any public communications issued by SHU. SHU Publications include, but are not limited to, SHU ID cards, online athletic rosters, promotional materials, websites, social media, playbills, organization membership lists, news releases, awards and some mailings.

A pronoun is a word(s) that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. As such, people frequently refer to each other using pronouns. Often, when speaking of a singular individual in the third person, these pronouns imply a gender -- such as “he” to refer to a man or “she” to refer to a woman. These associations are not always accurate or helpful, and people can indicate the third-person pronouns by which they wish to be referred to, often to indicate their gender identity. SHU offers the opportunity for all students, faculty and staff to specify their pronouns in the SHU Systems according to the Procedures Supporting this Policy.

History

This Sacred Heart University Chosen Name Policy was adopted August 1, 2023.