What would you like the Union to do?
Encourage students, student leaders, and union members to lead by example and use their pronouns wherever relevant (for example, including them in email signatures, in-person introductions, and wearing pronoun badges). SU clubs and society committee members should receive training on gender-related issues, especially in regards to trans people, the how and why of using pronouns, and how to integrate these into our online systems.
Furthermore the SU should lobby UCL to ensure that online platforms have integrated pronoun options, including custom options. This should ideally include Moodle, Portico, and Teams/Microsoft. This could be further enhanced by ensuring that there are tutorials and instructions available about how to include your pronouns in these systems.
The SU should do follow-up research into the impact of the policy and how students (especially LGBTQ+ students) perceive the sharing of pronouns.
Why would you like to do this?
In 2021, a similar policy was passed. https://studentsunionucl.org/policy/up2107/pronouns-in-class Despite the work into this policy, students are still frequently misgendered, resulting in reduced sense of belonging and exacerbating dysphoria. This results in reduced student participation in clubs and societies due to feeling unsafe or unwelcome in these groups.
How will this affect students?
Trans people will feel more included and accepted, especially in the current UCL environment. It should help cis people to better understand the barriers and issues trans students face in society.