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The University Daily Kansan
vol. 135 // iss. 16 Thurs., Oct. 12, 2017
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Nonbinary, transgender students can get new photo IDs for free Student Senate will pay for new photos on KU IDs to reflect changing gender expressions
Illustration by Gracie Williams/KANSAN
HAILEY DIXON @_hailey_dixon University students wishing to gain a new KU ID card to match their new identity or gender expression will have the opportunity to thanks to collaborated efforts by Student Senate and the Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity. “It should be a University-wide effort,” said Rusha Bajpai, Student Senate director of diversity and inclusion. Addressing problems of students in the past being denied entrance to use SafeBus or SafeRide, students will now be able to apply to gain a new student identification card through an application process, free of charge. Student Senate will be covering the costs to help those in the LGBTQ community to be able to gain a new KU card. “When it doesn’t match your appearance anymore, you know, it’s kind of uncomfortable,” said Mattie Carter, student body vice president.
In the application process, individuals are required to explain the need for the new card to Student Senate, Bajpai said, so students are not abusing it for the wrong purpose. Students just need to send a paragraph detailing why they would like a new card to Bajpai, according to a statement by Student Senate released last Sunday on various social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter. Currently, Bajpai described, students may still have to have their legal name, or “dead name,” on the identification card, as the University’s Office of Registrar has to use the legal name given to a student from their driver’s license or form of identity. With this new program, however, students will get a new picture on their card, which will also upload onto other places a student’s photo is used across the University, such as on the My KU Portal website. In order for Student Senate to be able to cover the costs, both Carter
and Bajpai said Senate had to cut back on office supplies. The money that will be used to cover the new cards, Bajpai said, will not take away funds from other student organizations.
“Twenty dollars can mean a lot of money for students. It’s not really fair, because it’s not like they lost their card or destroyed it.” Rusha Bajpai Student Senate, director of diversity and inclusion
“We felt it was really important that we could cover [the costs],” Carter said. Bajpai said it was important for students to be able to gain a new card for free that expresses their gender identity correctly, since the cost of getting a new card if one loses or damages it is $20. “Twenty dollars can
mean a lot of money for students,” she said. “It’s not really fair, because it’s not like they lost their card or destroyed it.” In addition, Bajpai also said that it was important to cover the costs and help students get new cards because students use ID cards almost on a daily basis, like getting into residence halls, printing at libraries or with Beak ‘em Bucks. Both Bajpai and Carter said they have received positive comments thus far on the initiative. Going forward, Bajpai said, they welcome all feedback, especially since this is a brand new initiative at the University. Carter said she was impressed with how Bajpai got the ball rolling with this initiative to help students address this need. “This is really the result of Rusha’s hard work,” Carter said. “She deserves all the applause.” — Edited by Jake Stephens