MRU now allows students to pick preferred first name

Prefer going by a different name?

That’s no problem at Mount Royal University.

After a number of requests over the last couple years, the school will now allow students to use whatever name they want in many campus systems and services.

Preferred names can be used on class lists, email and student cards.

Associate Vice President, Enrolment Management and Registrar Phil Warsaba explained there were a number of reasons why students asked for the change, including gender identity.

“We have international students who have fairly complex and difficult to pronounce names and they’d like to choose a more, or they go by, a more anglicized version of their name,” he said.

Warsaba said they are prepared for any problems that may arise if people try to abuse the system such as checking names to student numbers during tests.

“We believe that that individual instructors will always be able to identify students through their last name,” he explained. “We have a lot of processes in place that will allow us to monitor the change over time and then to continually make amendments to the process as we see fit.”

Students will still need to use their legal name when required.