Names & Gender Markers

COTC:

Changing preferred name at COTC (Process as of 2-8-19): Complete the Personal Data Change form & click “Nickname/Preferred Name.”

What name can I put on my COTC ID card? COTC mirrors OSU’s preferred name on BuckID policy found here.  Contact the Newark Campus Security Office (740-366-9237) for any questions.

Changing legal name at COTC (Policy as of 2-8-19): CHANGE OF NAME/ADDRESS/PHONE NUMBER Any change in a student’s name, address or phone number must be reported to The Gateway. Name changes require submission of a U.S. Social Security Card. It is the responsibility of the student to notify the college of any changes by completing a Personal Data Form available from The Gateway. Each student is responsible for complying with any official communication sent to the last reported address.

Changing gender marker at COTC (Link coming soon)

25Live

  • The room reservation system used by COTC & Ohio State Newark uses legal names. Max started a helpdesk ticket 11/1/21. Contact Max for updates/questions.

OCIO HelpDesk tickets:

  • If you’ve started any “help tickets” with the IT Helpdesk prior to your name change, (or ever called the HelpDesk at all, even if you’re not sure if you started a ticket), you may have tickets in your account with your previous name/pronouns, such as a comment from the Helpdesk analyst that says “[Name] called in for help with [her/his/their] COTC email account…” etc. As of 7/26/22, there is no way to get those erased from the record of your Helpdesk tickets (and therefore preventing future Helpdesk analysts from seeing those previous names/pronouns), but Max & Beth are working with OTDI on this.

 

OSU:

BE AWARE: OSU has multiple computer systems; changing your (preferred OR legal) name in just one place will NOT change it in all OSU’s systems. Same thing for gender marker. However, this list is a good place to start. If you find that the steps listed below are out of date, or if you come across any other offices/websites at OSU that aren’t listed here but should be, please email Max to add them to this page.

Changing preferred name at OSU

What name can I put on my BuckID?

Changing legal name at OSU: Click here then scroll down to the last FAQ that says “

Changing gender marker at OSU

Changing sexual orientation/gender identification in BuckeyeLink: Go to BuckeyeLink.osu.edu then click on this icon:

Buckeyelink update sexual orientation icon

Employees – Changing legal name at OSU

Other places at OSU where you may wish to update your information (in alphabetical order):

25Live

  • The room reservation system used by COTC & Ohio State Newark uses legal names. Newark IT (2/23/22) has contacted the company that makes 25Live because preferred name (“displayName” attribute on OSU accounts) is not an option in the LDAP configuration for the 25Live software. Newark IT has asked how to submit an idea/suggestion to have the displayName attribute for Active Directory added to the available LDAP configuration options. As of 7/25/22, a fix in in the works and will be tested by OTDI this summer. Contact Max for updates/questions.

Alumni Association:

  • Even if you’re not a member of the alumni association, you likely still have a record with their office because their office has a database of all OSU attendees. Max plans to add more content here, but for now (7/30/21), please contact Max if you have questions about this.
  • If you’ve interacted with (or been a member of) any specific alumni groups or clubs, those organizations may have their own records, as well, such as the TBDBITL Alumni Society for the marching band, which maintains their own database.

Athletics Ticket Office:

  • Name change (legal or preferred): Email athletic.tix@osu.edu (from the email listed on your athletics account), subject line: Name Change, and say: “I have changed my name to ____, please update my athletics account.” They do not require any documentation to make this change.  (Per Lily in the Athletics Office, 6/18/21)
  • Gender marker – “Accounts do not have a gender marker unless notification is sent by the ticket holder to add one. We do not ask for gender when creating accounts. (An account holder) can always send an email asking to add/update gender.” (Per Lily in the Athletics Office, 6/18/21)

Degree Audit System (DARS):

  • Employee’s legal name changes AND preferred names in my.osu.edu do not auto-populate in DARS. Max has yet to pursue this as of 9-30-23.

DocuSign:

  • DocuSign doesn’t pull in your preferred name from Buckeyelink, but you can edit your preferred name in DocuSign by clicking on your profile picture (or icon) in the top-right corner, then select “Manage Profile” from the menu. Under “My Profile Information” click Name and then you can edit your first and last name in the text boxes.
  • Even though your display name may update (with a legal or preferred name change), your actual signature in DocuSign may not. To update that, go to the Manage Profile page, select the Signatures tab, and click Add new at the bottom. Once you’ve created your new signature, delete your old signature.

Donations/Gifts to OSU – updating their database with your info:

  • Log in to your account at this website: https://connect1.osu.edu/ohiostate
  • From there, click “update your info” in the menu bar at the top of the page. Your legal name pulls in from HR, but you can edit your preferred name in the text box beneath that.
  • Scroll down to the “Student Involvement” section. You may wish to edit/remove student involvements in that list, particularly if they are associated with a certain gender, etc. The edit button on the right will allow you to change the involvement group, but not delete it or choose a blank option. To remove the involvements, email bioupdate@osu.edu.
  • In the menu bar at the top of the page, click “Your giving history.” This displays legal name BUT not always your current legal name; rather, it shows previous legal name. Max is investigating this (7/30/21) and will update this page when he hears back.
  • In the menu bar at the top of the page, click “Classmate Search”. This search feature returns legal names, and can search based on partial names. Max is investigating this (7/30/21) and will update this page when he hears back.

Duo Security emails

  • When a user adds a new device to their Duo Security account (buckeyepass.osu.edu) they receive an automated email to their OSU email account as a confirmation that they’ve added a new device. That email says “Hi (Legal Name)” in large font. Max emailed preferredname@osu.edu on 11/7/23.

HDI (OCIO “How did we do” email surveys)

  • As of 7/26/22, these emails (sent out on a random basis after an IT ticket that you submitted has been completed) address you using your legal first name at the University. Max submitted IT tickets for this, to no avail. So on 2/5/22 Max submitted a complaint to HDI (the company OSU uses to send these emails) and didn’t hear back. Max left a message for HDI Customer Care on 7/26/22.

Newark Campus Mailroom:

  • All faculty/staff have mail slots in the Newark Campus mailroom (other regional campuses or department offices may also have these). You’ll want to visit/contact them to update the name placard on your mailbox.

OCIO HelpDesk tickets:

  • If you’ve started any “help tickets” with the IT Helpdesk prior to your name change, (or ever called the HelpDesk at all, even if you’re not sure if you started a ticket), you may have tickets in your account with your previous name/pronouns, such as a comment from the Helpdesk analyst that says “[Name] called in for help with [her/his/their] OSU email account…” etc. As of 7/26/22, there is no way to get those erased from the record of your Helpdesk tickets (and therefore preventing future Helpdesk analysts from seeing those previous names/pronouns), but Max & Beth are working with OTDI on this.
  • Helpdesk tickets will also display your legal middle name (as of 7/27/21), since the Registrar doesn’t have a preferred-middle-name option. Max is in contact with the OCIO’s office and the Registrar’s office about fixing both of these issues.

OnBase:

  • OnBase is the software where OSU stores academic transcripts, applications to OSU, academic forms, etc. Any transcript (such as from high school) that you’ve sent to OSU is stored in OnBase as a pdf document, and will include whatever name/gender that was on the original document, since OnBase is just a scan of the document. Getting these purged is trickier because OSU has to follow a schedule for how long they have to keep documents (per the Records Retention schedule). Max plans to add more content here, but for now (7/30/21), please contact Max if you have questions about this.

OnCourse:

  • OnCourse stores notes from your advisors, tutoring staff, professors’ alerts, etc. All of these can include your name and references to you in gendered form (his/her/their, etc.). However, the only staff who have access to edit the text of those notes are the OnCourse team at OSU. You may contact the OnCourse team to make those edits (by emailing oncourse@osu.edu). However, Max recommends contacting him for help with this process since he works closely with the OnCourse team in his work in the Advising office.

Qualtrics:

  • Legal name changes AND preferred names in my.osu.edu do not auto-update into Qualtrics. Max has yet to pursue this as of 9-20-23.

TASC:

  • The TASC website (that OSU uses for Flexible Spending Accounts) displays legal name. Max contacted TASC 11/16/21 and found that employees can edit name/gender/pronouns on the TASC site BUT—-OSU sends a monthly census file to TASC that overwrites any changes the employee has entered. Therefore, Max has submitted an HR ticket 11/16/21 & contacted Jodi Gilkerson.7 who is the primary OSU contact for the TASC company. On 12/7/21, Jodi wrote: “Your request has been received and HR will review and prioritize in line with the vast amounts of additional work and in line with technical resources that are allocated across a variety of projects,” and closed the case. Max wrote back asking that the case stay open to this remains on the radar, and the case was closed anyway, without opportunity for comment from Max. On 12/13/21, Max wrote back to HR asking that HRC0389129 be reopened. Contact Max for updates/questions.
  • Update 9-20-23: HR Tickets with Max reveal that Ohio State entered into an agreement with the new FSA provider for 2023 with full knowledge that preferred names are not within that new company’s platform. Max has contacted the new company summer 2023 and was told his “suggestion” would be passed along but has not heard an update as of 9-20-23.

For any questions navigating these OSU/COTC policies:

Students feel free to contact the advisors of PrideOutLoud.  Faculty/Staff feel free to contact the founders of the Employee Resource Group.

 

Other resources:

Name and gender change legal clinics available through Equitas Health and TransOhio