Response to Siena Climate Survey

 The fact that 100 percent of transgender students at Siena said that they experienced some sort of harrassment/discrimination/bias at our college during the 2016/2017 climate survey makes me feel a mix of emotions. On the one hand I am ashamed that anyone at this college was made to feel discriminated against based on their gender identity. On the other hand, however, when I first heard this fact my mind jumped to a more hopeful thought. That thought being, this survey was in 2017, three years ago. That does not seem like a long time, but trans-activism has come a long way since then, and perhaps if the same survey was done now the results would be better. But they might not be. This is because we have to consider what this survey is really saying. It is not saying that most people at Siena would discriminate against trans people, but rather that everyone who is trans has experienced discrimination. This seems to be in the nature of many forms of harassment and discrimination, only a small portion of people need to be engaging in it for most of the targeted group to experience it.

So what is the solution? How can we get this number down? Anyone would be lying if they said they had a perfect answer, but as a member of the Siena community here is my suggestion. I think the appraoch needs to be a two pronged solution, with each prong stemming from the same, well, stem. That stem is improved education regarding gender, and trans identities. It does not have to take the form of a mandatory first year class, but some sort of compulsory course in the vain of the online course that we (or at least current sophomores) had to take regarding alcohol safety prior to our freshman year. Such a course should be focused on teaching people about how gender is separate from sex, and the legitimacy of trans identities. I think that despite this there will still be some people who slip through the cracks, so to speak, and continue to harass trans students, however, I think the total number of people who engage in harassment would decrease. That is the first prong, decreasing the number of people who actively harass transgender students. The second, and arguably more important prong, will be an encouragement for more students to speak out against this harassment when they witness it, and stand up for their fellow students. Knowing that the Siena community is filled with allies who will actively support and defend trans students, would also lead to a decrease in harassment, or at the very least put a stop to it when it does occur. This two would stem from the aforementioned education, as part of it would teach students how to be an active ally.

I know implementing this idea would not be perfect, but it would be better than not implementing it. It is unlikely that we can stop all bad people from doing bad, but if we can stop/educate some of them, and encourage good people to do good, then we will have done a lot towards making Siena a campus that everyone can feel like they belong at.