Transgender People on University Campuses: A Policy Discourse Analysis
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The aim of this dissertation was to examine the language used to discuss transgender people on university campuses. The primary data for this study consisted of 16 reports issued at four Big Ten schools from 1992-2010. These reports address the inclusion of gender identity and expression in nondiscrimination policies, the status of transgender people on university campuses, or both. This study employed policy discourse analysis, a hybrid methodology that analyzes written documents using feminist, critical, and post structural theories in order to identify the subject positions generated through policy discourse. These reports should be viewed in the context of primary sources that illustrate a long history of LGBTQ civil rights battles. This dissertation examines how these reports framed discussions about transgender people, and what this in turn tells us about the reality produced by the reports.