A nonbinary student looks upset while walking down a school hallway surrounded by students identifying as female. Misgendering students in Infinite Campus has negative effects on mental health. Visual by Antonio Starks
The use of deadnames in Infinite Campus has led to gender-queer students feeling as if their identities are being invalidated by the school district.
For transgender students, a name that reflects their gender can be an important part of their transition. With the name provided in Infinite Campus being used for almost everything, these students are often deadnamed.
According to Healthline, “Deadnaming occurs when someone, intentionally or not, refers to a person who’s transgender by the name they used before they transitioned.”
The use of chosen names has positive effects on the mental health of LGBTQ youth, according to a study published by the Journal of Adolescent Health. Transgender people between the ages of 15 and 21 who could use their chosen name freely showed a 71% reduction in symptoms of depression and a 34% reduction in suicidal thoughts as compared to people of the same ages who weren’t able to.
Some students may feel uncomfortable with letting their family see this information, but the process should be available for those who feel safe doing so.
“Students who are transitioning have an incredible amount of stress, and might have challenges related to interactions with peers, with family,” Clarke Central High School Freshman Counselor Lawton Stephens said.
Some students may feel uncomfortable with letting their family see this information, but the process should be available for those who feel safe doing so.
“There may be some internal struggle there and whatever we can do to support the student and assist in bearing some of that stress and helping walk with students towards getting everything figured out as far as our (Infinite) Campus documentation and what they’re called in classes and referred to, as from an official perspective, would be a good thing,” Stephens said.
The use of chosen names is difficult in an environment where most official documents use legal names. While some argue that the use of these names on-screen may not be particularly significant to some students, the name used in Infinite Campus is attached to everything.
If there is a process for changing names in the system, most students have not been given much information regarding this possibility.
“As a counselor, if (the process is) unclear to me, it’s probably unclear to the students as well,” Stephens said. “Being more transparent about what that means and how that is done would be a good thing for sure.”
A name is part of someone’s identity, and deadnaming in Infinite Campus invalidates the identities of students at CCHS.
With the information in Infinite Campus being used throughout the school, the process for changing names needs to be available to students. A survey about preferred names, administered to students at the beginning of each semester, could help fix this issue.
A name is part of someone’s identity, and deadnaming in Infinite Campus invalidates the identities of students at CCHS.
