OK so some of you will be aware of my uni situation, but for those who aren't, let's have a quick recap. I started changing my name in February. I asked my university about it and they put me in touch with someone who handles this sort of thing. Basically we agreed that this would be STRICTLY need to know. As few people as physically possible would know it was happening.My name and gender would be changed. All electronic records would be altered, all scans of documents stored on computers would be deleted. All physical documents would be placed in storage where access is HIGHLY limited. It was agreed that the preparation for this would go on for a while and it would all come into effect on an agreed date in mid April. From mid April nobody at my university would be aware of the existence of Sam *******, as far as the records would show, there has only ever been Holly. Now at the end of each module, we have an exam and you need to bring photo identification in order to take it. I figured the passport probably wouldn't be ready in time and I can't get a new learner drivers license until the passport comes back. This left us with one option. I had to get a card from my university's student association. My named contact arranged this with the student association. She then told me to send a letter she provided, which clearly stated my name, "Miss Holly Naomi Cosette ******" and my PI number. I had to provide this as proof of who I am, along with a passport photo. It was supposed to take three weeks. It seems it has been nearly nine. So imagine my absolute horror when I received an envelope addressed to Mr Sam *****. The envelope contained a cover letter from the student association. It contained the letter I had sent as proof of ID, that same letter with "Miss Holly Naomi Cosette *******" written on it. It also contained my ID card. With "Mr Sam *******" written on it. This ID is, of course, useless. I was pissed. But it was OK, my exam isn't until the end of June. There is time to fix it. I can call my named contact and get them to send me another and she can spend all the time she likes figuring out how in the name of hell they managed to get hold of my past details, something I was repeatedly assured was LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE. But no. No no no no no. No, my exam isn't at the end of June. It's in ELEVEN FUCKING DAYS. But that's OK, there's still time right. 11 days to post a letter and have them rush it though. Should be doable, right? Postal service isn't THAT bad. I mean my named contact would need a couple of days to sort things out and demand the rush order and assure that they got the fucking name right this time. But 11 days, we can do that right? WRONG. Of course she's on FUCKING LEAVE until the 29th. That gives me 5 days. No, 4 days because obviously I need to have it BEFORE the day of my exam. Four days to sort out a rush, post, create, repost. Not. Fucking. Possible. I have been well and truly fucked here. If I can't take the exam I fail the course. Less than 40% on the exam is a fail regardless. If I fail the exam, one of three things happen. 1. My degree plans are over. I'm out of uni and well and truly fucked. I owe the university £6,000 for not completing the degree which is demanded in the terms of my fees grant. 2. I have to take a deferred exam next year. This pushes my next module back a year and puts my degree completion date one year outside of the final year agreed in the terms of my 'transitional fees' arrangement which I had to agree to when they raised tuition fees. Meaning I will owe them something like £5-6000 to complete the final year of my degree. If I can't afford that (and I can't) I owe them the same £6000 I mentioned in option 1, because I didn't complete the degree. 3. I have to take two exams at the same time next year, knowing full well I won't have covered the material for 11 months. FUCK. :bang:
Holy shit. What the crap I'd be pissed too jesus. I'm so sorry they're fucking you over like that. Damn. I don't know what to say.
In this situation, at least at my school, I would call the university president's office and ask for an immediate appointment. It's clear this is a royal paperwork screw-up, and it's also the sort of thing that the president should be empowered to, if nothing else, write a letter that says "Let this woman into her exam, signed, me" Another option is to go to your professors (assuming the classes are small enough they know who you are) and ask for their assistance in verifying your identity. There are always ways around these issues; people get robbed and lose their wallet the day before exams, wallets fall in the river, left in the back of cabs, or on buses... all sorts of situations that pop up where for some reason an ID is not available. I suspect if you go outside the traditional channels, there's a solution, especially since you've played by all the rules and gone through all the proper channels each step of the way. It's just a matter of finding the person empowered to make it happen.
See the thing is that since my university is a distance uni, my lecturer can't help and I'm not even sure who I would talk to to be in charge, but they certainly wouldn't randomly confirm the identity of someone they've never seen before..
1. Storm in the office and tell them that this girl is the one taking the exams not some mister whatever. Demand the paperwork to be changed. If distance is an issue, maybe Skype the uni officials? Anyway, these are your rights. If they refuse, you can sue them for this royal fuckery. 2. Good luck with your exams.
Yeah, don't wait around on this at all. Contact everyone you can related to the situation immediately - preferably by the most direct manner possible (if it's a distance university I guess that means by phone). If you can't get them on the phone then also email them. You are entitled here to demand immediate action - it's their screw up that could potentially set you back a good bit. They are obligated to correct that mistake. Don't let them tell you otherwise.
Well there is only one person I could contact. After all the problem is that I don't have any ID, and since they were supposed to issue me ID after a secret change of details I would have to fill in everyone as to WHY this happened which completely defeats the object of the change...
My passport is having the name, picture AND gender changed, I will be amazed if they issue it without an interview and they almost certainly won't issue it before the exam
I don't have any advice. No one will change anything here unless you have your passport or ID card officially changed. So, you have your ID card (I believe you don't have those in UK, right? We HAVE TO have them, the passport is optional) and if you want to change anything, they give you a temporary ID card for emergency cases. Once you have the new ID card, you can do the rest. But without it, no University or anybody else would move their finger, because they would break the law. I believe you will need to trade the secret for 6000 pounds... Find someone in charge who is present right now and explain them the problem. (*hug*)
Usually there's an Office called "Advocates" or "Ombudsman" or some semantic peer for those terms. The "Public Relations" office also can be useful as they're tasked with curating the Uni's "image"so to speak. So, it's possible-that your situation could be spun to them in effective ways. The ways all center around an AVOIDABLE image damage to the Uni. Lest _THEY_ need reminding, LGBTQ folks are a power bloc to be respected if we decide to take a case on En Masse. That makes the avoidable PR cock-up worth their fixing for you. Good luck
As terrible as I feel for suggesting it, and as terrible as I know it would make you feel, the fact is that your identity has obviously been compromised. The change did not go through. Sam exists in the system. So I know this would be all kinds of terrible and awkward for you, but do you think you could bring an old ID with your old name with you? There is a good chance that the test proctor was told your name is Sam as well anyway. And no matter what your name is, you have the same PI # in both identities. So you have a link you can prove on the spot. It might mean outing yourself to a single person. It's not right that you have to do that. The problem simply won't be fixed for other trans people at your university. But I think you and I have ended up in plenty of situations where we had to put up with worse already.
I'm glad Jess said it first but in this particular situation I was going to suggest the same thing, Holly. I'm so sorry this has happened. I'd be pissed too.
Thing is, as far as I know it went through fine everywhere else, so I don;t know WHICH system I'm still in... The PI thing is true, but since they check it while we are doing the exam I won't have the opportunity to explain it to anyone without missing significant exam time. Not to mention, even if I DO explain it, they can't take my word for it, they would have to check it out and make sure...
I emailed my tutor and he has passed it on to his line manager, so I have no idea how that will work. My named contact gets back in 2 days, so I will call her then. If she can't do anything, the plan is to take a copy of my deed poll letter and my faulty ID and hope for the best. They can either accept it, or kick me out of the exam. If they kick me out, I've got a friend begging me to let them help with the complaints because she knows about this sort of thing. It's not a great plan, but it'll do.
