Gender Identity & Expression

In its mission and legal status, Smith is a women’s college. Smith is also a place where students are able to explore who they are in an open and respectful environment.

Absolutely. Smith has students, faculty and staff who are trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming. Smith students are here to engage with each other socially and academically in respectful ways, and our community values the range of identities that the student body represents.

People who identify as women—cis, trans and nonbinary women—are eligible to apply to Smith.

Smith’s policy is one of self-identification. The applicant’s affirmation of identity is sufficient.

Commonly used third-person singular pronouns are listed below. Please note that this is by no means an exhaustive list. New pronouns are coming into use all the time.

The college respects individual choice in this matter and does not endorse any particular pronoun use in personal communication or informal writing.

For more information, please watch this video.

Members of the Smith Community can update their pronouns and look up other people’s pronouns in Workday.

Making assumptions about pronouns based on what a person looks like may lead to you to misgender them. When you don’t know what pronoun someone uses, ask yourself first if you need to know. If it’s a casual face-to-face conversation, or even a meeting, you can probably just refer to the person directly using their name and the pronoun “you,” as in, “Like Toby was saying before,” or “I have a question for you, Toby.”

For a person you plan to interact with more deeply or over a longer period, the best way to learn what pronouns someone uses is to ask. Keep it simple and just say, “Can I ask you what pronouns you use?” or “I use he/him pronouns, how about you?” It might feel awkward, but people who use pronouns that differ from those that people expect will probably really appreciate your efforts.

Pronouns get a lot of attention and they’re important, but remember that learning what pronouns a person uses tells you... what pronouns that person uses. That’s it. There are people who use they/them pronouns but also identify as male or as female. There are people coming into trans identities who have not changed their pronouns. And there are individuals who use the pronouns they were assigned at birth, but nevertheless have a very complex relationship with their gender.

When you ask someone what pronouns they use, you might hear something like, “I use she/her or they/them.” You may wonder whether the person really identifies with one over the other, but if that’s all the information you have, then take them at their word that they are comfortable with either and use whichever one you like. You can even try alternating between them. The same goes with people who tell you they don’t care what pronoun you use for them.

If someone uses “no pronoun,” then use their name each time you would use a pronoun (e.g., “Jen has two dinosaur tattoos because Jen really loves dinosaurs.”)

Some people have objected to the use of “they/them” as a singular pronoun because it is “confusing” or against the rules of grammar. (Not so—grammar rules eventually adapt to the way people use language, plus singular they/them has been used as far back as 1375!). Because they/them is also a plural pronoun, it’s true that using the singular version can create some minor confusions. But that’s a small price to pay for the tremendous benefit the rise of they/them pronouns has created for many, many people who now feel more comfortable having a widely used alternative to English’s binary gendered pronouns.

We’ve all used singular they/them pronouns already, in situations where we speak about one person of an unknown gender: “Someone left their umbrella behind in the classroom. I hope they don’t get soaked!” The same grammatical rules apply—just use “they” where you’d use “she” or “he,” and use a plural verb “are” (instead of “is/am,”) even for a single person (say “they are going to campus” rather than “they is going to campus”). This plural verb rule is similar to that employed by the singular “you”—one would say “you are,” not “you is.”

Follow these simple steps:

• Acknowledge it. (Don’t let it slide)
• Apologize.
• Move on.
• Don’t make it about you.

Being called the wrong pronoun can be a painful experience, so treat it like you would any other accidental hurt you might cause, like stepping on someone’s foot. It’s also something most trans people are acutely aware of, so even if the person you mispronounced is not responding, it’s best to assume that they and others around have noticed.

Here’s a good example: “I’d like to introduce you to my friend Sophia. She—I’m sorry, I meant he—is new to campus.”

Sometimes you don’t notice it until later, or until it is pointed out to you. Again, apologize and correct yourself, but don’t linger in your own feelings of guilt or shame. Excessive apologies can put the burden on the person you harmed to try to make you feel better, which is not their job.

When trying to create an inclusive group setting, it’s important to honor how people want to be addressed, which includes using chosen names and correct pronouns for everyone. However, it can also be othering and intimidating for some people to be put on the spot by being asked to share their pronouns right at the beginning with a new group. Here are some guidelines:

• Explain why you are asking
• Lead by example
• Always offer people the option to pass
• Remember that pronouns can change, so ask every few weeks
• Have people write pronouns on their nametags or table cards
• Be prepared to intervene if someone uses the wrong pronoun for someone else—don’t let it slide

As mentioned earlier, there is no way to tell by looking what pronoun someone uses, so one reason to share your pronouns if you are cisgender (not transgender) is to clearly communicate to others how you would like to be referred to. Going deeper, sharing your pronouns is an important act of solidarity and allyship. By sharing your own pronouns, you are opening space for others to share theirs and normalizing the process so that the burden is not on trans people to advocate for pronoun inclusion.

You can contact the Trans and Non-binary Working Group at transnb@smith.edu.

Members of the Smith community can also add their pronouns in Workday for other Smith students and employees to view. At this time, your pronouns will not appear in other Smith systems, such as Moodle or the Smith directory. Pronouns added in Workday will appear on course rosters for undergraduate and graduate/SSW graduate students. Search “pronoun” in Workday for instructions.

Pronouns are also visible in the following systems which require a Smith login: Medicat (medical records), Maxient (housing and conduct), and PowerFAIDs (financial aid).

The name you use in Workday will automatically appear on or in the following:

• Smith Google account name (the full name that displays when emailing someone, on a calendar, when logging into a Smith computer, etc). This is accessible to people outside of Smith with whom you communicate via your Smith email.
• Online Smith Campus Directory, which is only accessible to people with a Smith login.
• Moodle, which is accessible to Smith and Five College students in the same course.
• Course rosters, both chosen name and legal name will appear if it is not a legal name change.
• Banner (Alumnae Relations database, used for the Network app and for invitations to engage with alums)

It may take up to 24 hours for your name change to appear in these systems. For detailed instructions on how to update your name, search “name” in Workday, then select the appropriate help article.

Please note: Due to your previous Google profile information, your former name may still appear in older Google Calendar invitations and/or in the contact lists of some users who may have contacted you before. If this is the case, please ask your contacts to update their contact information for you. If your name has not changed in any of these systems after 24 hours, please reach out to ithelp@smith.edu for support.

For legal and logistical purposes, your legal name may continue to be visible in the following systems:

• Medicat (medical records)
• Maxient (housing and conduct)
• PowerFAIDs (financial aid)