MARIA MELCHIORRE
Staff Writer
The State University of New York at Fredonia’s nondiscrimination statement aims for the protection of students against harassment on the basis of their “race, color, national origin, religion, creed, age, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, familial status, pregnancy, predisposing genetic characteristics, military status, domestic violence victim status or criminal conviction.” Due to this policy, the Fredonia campus is considered a safe space.
“Our campus is pretty good about trans issues, so if something were to happen it would be addressed appropriately,” said Dean Bavisotto, a junior English and women’s and gender studies double major, who also identifies as trans. Unfortunately, this university policy does not extend to the outside community.
When it comes to the campus climate, the proper steps to full understanding and inclusion are being made slowly but surely. This aids in the retention rates that the school’s leadership keeps an ever-watchful eye on. So far, incidences of violence have been extremely limited.
“Things happen in this town all the time,” said Bavisotto, “most of the time no one gets hurt, which is really great, but a lot of stuff still happens.”
Students of Fredonia sometimes question why they don’t run into more members of campus’ queer community at the bars in town. “There’s a very purposeful reason for that,” said Bavisotto.
Bavisotto said he would walk around campus holding hands with someone masculine long before he would ever do so in town.
Although the University has a policy in place to prohibit discrimination against both sexual orientation and gender identity, New York State law addresses hate or bias crimes based on sexual orientation only.
“There are a lot of things New York state is progressive on,” said Bavisotto, “but not trans issues.”
The campus policy page states that the school’s statement is in accordance with federal and state laws and regulations prohibiting unlawful discrimination and harassment, including sexual harassment and violence. However, the FBI identifies a hate crime as a traditional offense with the added element of bias, whether motivated in part or whole by the victim’s race, religion, disabilities, ethnic origin or sexual orientation. Not mentioned anywhere in their definition are the terms “sex,” “gender” or “gender identity.”
Bavisotto, who is also the president of Women’s Student Union, was a part of the group that spearheaded the Primary Names program on campus, through which students who identify as a primary name different than that on their FREDCard may, for their own safety, change it accordingly. This advancement helps students who may have previously been forced to “out” themselves as trans to avoid potentially dangerous situations.
Out of the general population, 4.6 percent admit to attempting suicide, while the rates for queer and trans individuals are much higher. Ten to 20 percent of the queer population and 41 percent of trans people admit to attempting suicide at some point.
Many trans and queer students on Fredonia’s campus test the waters of a class before choosing to add their personal experiences of discrimination to the conversation. As beneficial to the classroom climate as these testimonies may be, they are few and far between, often confined to Women’s and Gender Studies classes, which many designate as a “safe space” for these students.