Trans Day of Visibility: Faculty Council for CCUSC Statement
Introduction
As Trans Day of Visibility approaches, the Faculty Council for the Centers for Cultural Understanding and Social Change reflects on UIC’s commitment to trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming students, staff, and faculty. In the context of federal attacks on trans communities, the university has ended gender-affirming care for trans children, banned the Gender and Sexuality Center from making “political statements” that affirm the value of trans lives, and remained silent on national issues that directly impact our students, including bans on participation in school athletics, prohibitions on trans-inclusive books, exclusion from bathrooms, and police and vigilante violence. In fact, the University of Illinois system’s 2026 legislative agenda makes no mention of LGBTQ+ communities, despite listing issues related to immigration, diversity, and athletes as priorities. We are disappointed that the university continues to position trans students, staff, and faculty only as a risk to the university, and, further, a risk not worth taking. We call on the university to publicly, and materially, affirm trans life as lives that matter by prioritizing the needs, experiences, and realities of our trans community.
Faculty Council for the Centers for Cultural Understanding and Social Change:
-Cynthia Blair, Associate Professor, Black Studies and History
-Anna Guevarra, Professor and Founding Director, Global Asian Studies
-Rachel Havrelock, Professor, English
-Lynette A. Jackson, Associate Professor, Gender & Women’s Studies and Black Studies
-Joseph O. Jewell, Professor and Head, Black Studies
-Nadine Naber, Professor, Gender & Women’s Studies and Global Asian Studies
-Nicole Nguyen, Professor, Criminology, Law, & Justice
-Therese Quinn, Professor and Director, Museum & Exhibition Studies
-Michael J. Scott, Associate Professor, Mechanical & Industrial Engineering
-Nic Weststrate, Associate Professor, Educational Psychology