Although it has been nearly two years since a gender-identity clause was added to the University's non-discrimination policy, there are still some University Web sites that do not include the updated policy.
The Undergraduate Admissions Web site, Penn's Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender People in Medicine Web site and the electronic version of the Pennbook -- Penn's resources, policies and procedures handbook -- are just some of the online pages missing the new version of the non-discrimination policy.
Representatives for the LGBT Center and the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Programs said that these omissions are attributable to the difficulty of getting the message out to the large and multi-layered University community, not to any malicious motivations.
"Many places haven't even heard of the change, or, if they have, they are not sure when they will get official wording on it," Associate Director of the LGBT Center Erin Cross said. "I don't think there is any ill intent."
In the spring of 2003, the University Council modified Penn's non-discrimination policy so that it explicitly protected transgender students. The policy now states that the University "does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, color" or other characteristics.
When the Penn home page is searched for "non-discrimination policy," the first site that appears is an old version of the policy from the Pennbook. The gender identity clause is also missing from the Statement on Diversity on the Undergraduate Admissions Web site.
Cross called the news about these Web sites "surprising and very disappointing."
Director of the LGBT Center Bob Schoenberg said that such highly visible omissions of the new policy can potentially affect students, faculty and staff negatively.
"If I were a transgendered student who had a problem and wanted to know what my rights were, or if I were applying to Penn and I went to a Web site that had a version of the non-discrimination policy that did not include gender identity, I would be concerned and possibly misinformed about Penn's sensitivity to my situation," he said. "I might make a decision not to file a grievance or to apply to the University because of that."
Since the gender identity clause was added, there have been efforts to publicize the change to the University community.
Most significantly, the Office of the General Counsel and the Office of Affirmative Action issued a memorandum last May informing deans and senior administrators about the change and the need to update the policy wherever it appears.
"We hope it trickles down from the top level," said Jeanne Arnold, executive director of the Office of Affirmative Action. "Everybody has been informed. There are just so many Web sites, but that's not an excuse. I believe [the omission of the updated policy] is an oversight."
Many of those informed about the lack of an updated policy on their Web sites have been quick to make the necessary changes.
Associate Vice Provost Terry Conn updated the policy on the online version of the Pennbook within hours of hearing the news. First-year medical student and co-Chairman of LGBTPM Marcus Bachhuber contacted his webmaster to fix the policy on the Web page immediately.
Officials from the undergraduate admissions department could not be reached for comment.
Cross added that while the updating of the policy on Web sites is important, there are many other concrete ways that the gender identity clause can be implemented at the University.
Gender-neutral bathrooms in Penn facilities, changes to the simple male/female choice on University forms and more adequate health care benefits for "gender variant" people are just some of the issues she feels need to be examined more closely.
A special subcommittee of the Affirmative Action Council is currently examining issues such as these and will be submitting its recommendations to the general body before the summer.
