Policies & Procedures

Procedure 1B.1.12: Preferred Name

Background: Anoka Technical College and Anoka-Ramsey Community College recognize and support the members of its community who wish to use preferred names where legally permissible. This procedure outlines a process by which individuals in the system may designate a preferred name to be used in the course of system business and education.

Definition: Preferred Name - A preferred name is a name that a person has chosen to identify themselves within Minnesota State that is different, in whole or in part, from their legal name.

Procedure: Requests for use of a preferred name must be submitted in writing via the Preferred Name form to the designated campus or system official; identification may be requested for security purposes. The Registrar’s Office shall be responsible for handling preferred name requests from students and alumni; human resources offices shall be responsible for handling preferred name requests from employees.

Designating a Preferred Name: An individual shall generally be permitted to designate any preferred name, including first, middle and/or last name. Anoka Technical College and Anoka-Ramsey Community College reserve the right to deny an inappropriate preferred name including, but not limited to, those that: avoid legal obligations, misrepresent, or violate other system policies, etc. Preferred names may not be used for commercial or promotional purposes and thus may not be a company name, group name, or message.

Implementation: Anoka Technical College and Anoka-Ramsey Community College shall use preferred names for e-mail address, online directory, class rosters, and other functions where technically and legally possible.

Legal names shall be used by default in all cases except where specifically identified in the preferred name list (see below). This list shall be periodically reviewed and updated as necessary to achieve the overall goal of this Procedure, which is to provide for the use of “preferred names where legally permissible.”

Appeal process: In the event that a Preferred Name request is denied, students should appeal in writing to the Dean of Student Affairs with an explanation as to why they believe they should be granted the preferred name. Employees should appeal in writing to the Chief Human Resources Officer.

Preferred Name List:

Legal names will always appear in the following:

All other fields will continue to use legal name. For fields where Preferred Name could be used, the Human Resources office or Registrar’s Office will submit the request to the System Office Preferred name Task Force.

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History: 

02.2016 Adopted

08.2017 Technical change: MnSCU to Minnesota State