Extra chairs had to be added to Marie Mount Hall’s Maryland Room yesterday to accommodate the nearly 70 students who attended “Beyond the Binary: The Lives of Trans People Today” to hear transgender author and activist Genny Beemyn speak.

“Genny is a recognized national expert on making institutions of higher learning more welcoming, more supportive, and more empowering to trans folk, people who don’t fit a gender or sexual binary,” said Luke Jensen, director of the LGBT Equity Center, which sponsored the presentation.

Beemyn is Jensen’s counterpart at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he is the director of the Stonewall Center. Beemyn is also the coordinator for the Campus Pride Trans Policy Clearinghouse.

Beemyn has authored or contributed to nine books and articles regarding LGBTQ issues, specifically focusing on the lives of people who do not fit into the gender binary. Beemyn is currently working on research for their upcoming book entitled Campus Queer: The Experiences and Needs of LGBTQ College Students.

“I’m doing this because it matters, but more importantly, because no one else is doing it,” Beemyn said.

While researching for the book, Beemyn identified the top five ways that colleges fail gender nonbinary students: failing to implement name and gender change on records, recognize the importance of pronouns, provide gender-inclusive bathrooms, provide gender-inclusive bathrooms and raise awareness and education.

Beemyn said campuses should have policies requiring at least one gender-inclusive bathroom in each newly reconstructed or renovated buildings on the campus, while changing single-occupancy bathrooms in existing buildings to gender inclusive ones, something that this university has already started doing.

The story of one former University of Massachusetts student illustrated the need for gender inclusive housing, Beemyn said. Eight years ago, the university did not have a gender inclusive housing program. When the student came out as a trans woman and was kicked out of her home, the university did not know where to put her, despite her dire need for on-campus housing.

The Department of Resident Life eventually placed her on a floor with older international students because it was the only place with a gender-inclusive bathroom. The student later attempted suicide and dropped out of school.

“Can you isolate someone any more, when they put this woman into the most unconducive situation for her to feel support?” Beewyn said.

Junior kinesiology major Malik Artis called this story “eye-opening.”

“I didn’t realize that most of these schools had these type of issues, where trans people were being … pushed to a point where they just drop out of school completely, which is kind of heartbreaking because they go to school to get an education,” he said. “It’s hard to do that where they’re not comfortable at all.”

Beemyn said resident departments should offer a gender-inclusive housing option in which students are assigned to rooms regardless of gender. This university started one of these programs in the fall of 2013.

Beemyn said improving the lives of transgender college students will take more than these bureaucratic changes, however. Pronouns are particularly important, Beemyn said, and professors should make an effort to find out what identifiers students prefer, such as asking at the start of a new class or meeting.

“It’s not just changing a policy, it’s changing the campus culture and that’s a lot harder to do, and that’s where I think we all need to be doing a better job,” they said.

Artis said this university is moving in the right direction, though there’s always opportunities for further growth. Jenson said having a third party come in, such as Beemyn, was also helpful in identifying areas for improvement.

“Having [Beemyn’s] voice here gave us a sense of where we stand … which I think we stand in a pretty good place,” Jensen said. “But also, it gives us a sense of what we have left to do.”