Hofstra's name-change procedure desperately needs a change

 Photo courtesy of Jon Tyson via Unsplash

My name is Lee Cusack. I am nonbinary, I use they/them pronouns and I use a new name. I’ve used this name publicly since I was 13, but I’ve never legally had my name changed.

In my home state of Massachusetts, the process can take upwards of three months, requiring a petition to file a name change, a background check, an advertisement in the local paper (or a signed affidavit waving this step), and a court date and ruling. The process costs around $170, or $350 if fees for replacing the name on documents such as a driver's license, passport and birth certificate are considered. After all those steps are taken and the initial fees are paid, the name change can still be rejected with no refunds.

To be quite honest, I do not have the patience, time or money for this process. Especially now that I attend college in a different state, there’s no guarantee that I could be in Massachusetts on the court date they would give me.

I went through my orientation week at Hofstra with the wrong name, and it was a disaster. The nametags we had to wear had the wrong name. I couldn’t change it as it was laminated and every marker would rub off. The constant reminder of my name to others and covering up of my own name tag was humiliating. It isn’t the fault of anyone, as I was not yet aware I could have it changed, but I wasn’t willing to do that for the rest of college.

I was incredibly relieved when I discovered that Hofstra could change it in their records for no cost. The paperwork was incredibly simple. It only took around eight days before I was informed that I had a new email address that reflected my correct name, and I was assured I would have any emails sent to my former email forwarded to this one. However, it wouldn’t be until Welcome Week that I discovered how little had been changed.

When I arrived on move-in day, I received my student ID which listed my old name. It was printed on Aug. 10, a few days before I filed the paperwork. This was disappointing, but ultimately, it was bad timing on my end. However, it didn’t stop there. 

Over the course of Welcome Week, I found more things that hadn’t been changed. I tried to log into Microsoft Office using my email with no luck. It wasn’t until I tried my old email that it worked. Picking up packages from the post office is a hassle because they could be listed under either name, which confuses the workers when my ID says one name and the box says the other. But the worst and the weirdest was yet to come.

On the first day of school, I had two out of my five classes. My first professor had the correct name on her roster, but in my second class, my professor had the incorrect name listed on his roster. I registered for both classes on the same day, before I had filed my change of name form, so I have no idea why this occurred, but it wasn’t a good sign.

The next day, I had the same issue occur when two of my professors had the correct name and one didn’t. It wasn’t until my composition class that I realized the worst had yet to come. My professor mentioned an essay that he had mentioned in an email to the class which was due the next time we met. I looked around startled, but nobody else seemed to feel the same way. I asked the person sitting next to me if she had gotten the email, and she said that she had. I was the only person in that room not to receive the email.

After class, I went up to my professor to ask him what contact information he had on file for me, and to my annoyance, it was my former email.

I had been told that my all emails would be forwarded to my new one without issue, but that was clearly not the case and continues to be that way. The most common conversation I’ve had with my classmates is along the lines of: “I didn’t get that email; would you mind forwarding it to me?”

I came to Hofstra hoping for a new start where I didn’t have to start conversations by explaining I had two names. I didn’t want to be “Lee, who used to be -----,” I just wanted to be “Lee.” Hofstra’s name-change policy is a good start, but until the issues it causes with its systems are worked out, all it’s good for is claiming tolerance without proving it.