The College will use an individual’s preferred/chosen first name whenever and wherever possible in the course of conducting College business.
Purpose/Reason for Policy: Guilford College recognizes that many of its members use names other than their legal names to identify themselves. This policy is intended to clarify the College’s desire to accommodate these preferences, and to outline the conditions under which this can occur.
Scope/Covered Persons: All members of the Guilford College community.
The Policy: Guilford College recognizes that, as a community, many of its members use names other than their legal names to identify themselves. As long as the use of preferred/chosen name is in accordance with College policies, the College will use a student’s preferred/chosen first name whenever possible in the course of College business, except where the use of the legal name is necessitated by a legal requirement. Students may request a preferred/chosen name be associated with the official student record for the use on items such as class rosters, housing rosters, diploma, and graduation program.
An individual’s legal name typically appears on documents, including but not limited to: hiring paperwork, paychecks, accounts payable checks, student billing, financial aid forms, tax forms, official College transcripts, and any other documents required by law. Legal names can only be changed on these records when individuals pursue a legal name change with their home state and/or federal authorities and then submit that documentation to the College Registrar (students) or Human Resources (employees).
Students may contact the College Registrar to record or change the preferred/chosen name associated with their records and across various College systems by contacting registrar@guilford.edu.
Roles and Responsibilities: All offices with responsibility for creating official College records will comply with this policy.
Approval Authority: College President
Responsible Office: Chief of Staff
Revision History: Student Handbook 2017-18, revised 10-9-2017; College Policy Library, revised 2-20-2023
https://catalog.guilford.edu/catalog/academic-regulations/student-records/