Name/Pronoun Change
Preferred Name
GCDS recognizes that as a community many of its members use names other than their legal names to identify themselves. Accordingly, GCDS students, faculty and staff may choose to identify themselves in the School's information systems with a preferred first name (in addition to a legal name). Preferred Name changes generally will take effect the next day, but may take longer in some systems.
The goal of this initiative is to reduce the visibility of legal name in information systems to only those systems where it is required for legal reasons or by School policy.
Community members are not required to select a preferred name; legal names will be used unless a preferred name has been specified. Preferred names shall not be used for the purpose misrepresentation, avoiding legal obligations, or otherwise in any manner that violates School policies or federal, state, or local laws.
To register a preferred name, please email registrar@gcds.net.
Pronouns
Pronoun changes generally will take effect the next day in the School's systems, but other community members will not be proactively informed of a person’s change of pronouns. For example, course rosters with pronouns will be given to faculty one week before the start of classes and while a student is able to change their pronouns in the system at any time, faculty, others may will not be notified of this change. Therefore, if you want others to use your recently changed pronouns, you should inform them of the change.
Community members are not required to select pronouns. If none are entered, the pronoun fields in information systems will remain blank. Students and employees may select from the following options:
She/her/hers
He/him/his
They/them/theirs
Prefer Not to Answer
To register a pronoun change, please email registrar@gcds.net.
Legal Name
To update their legal name, families, students, and/or employees must notify the School and provide a supporting legal document reflecting their new name, including but not limited to: Official Court Document; Marriage Certificate; Divorce; Passport; Birth Certificate; Revised U.S. Social Security Card; or U.S. Social Security Receipt.
Once an individual presents satisfactory documentation, the person's name will be changed accordingly.
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