Some University of Wisconsin-Madison students received an online survey Monday asking for feedback on what they say are inflammatory and biased questions about transgender athletes’ participation in club sports.
The survey, sent by University Recreation and Wellbeing as part of an ongoing ten-university study conducted by University of Indiana researcher Dr. Austin Anderson, asks student athletes in intramural and club sports to rank their agreement with statements such as “transgender men are not really men” and “transgender women are emotionally unstable.”
Before doing so, students are prompted to give rankings of their “religious commitment” and political identification.
“It felt like some of the statements were pretty inflammatory,” UW-Madison Swim Club president Cole Witt said. “It would’ve been upsetting to me if I was trans to be reading that stuff.”
The survey warned of “risks or discomforts” in a message prior to the questions. Those risks included potentially “uncomfortable or private questions about your experiences and perceptions” and “potential loss of confidentiality.”
Neither the survey invitation email nor the disclaimer prior to taking the survey provided a transphobia warning.
An example of some of the statements students were asked to rank their agreement toward in the survey.
Some students were disturbed while taking the survey.
“When I looked at the survey, I was frankly horrified,” said Emmett Lockwood, Associated Students of Madison equity and inclusion chair and a club men’s water polo athlete. “If someone said most of the things put in this survey to me as an athlete, it would be a hate and bias report.”
Lockwood also took issue with language in RecWell’s invitational email, which asked about “transgender participation” in campus sports rather than the “participation of transgender athletes.”
The decision to use “transgender” as a noun instead of an adjective “takes the person out of it,” Lockwood said.
“[UW-Madison] is putting out a survey where students could just agree with statements around gender identity being a figment of one’s imagination, or trans men and trans women not being truly men or women,” Lockwood said.
Survey follows week of tense hearings on bills to restrict trans rights
The survey’s release comes as Wisconsin Republicans are pushing bills to restrict the access of trans athletes in private, charter and public schools, including UW System schools.
Kelly Tyrrell, UW-Madison media relations and strategic communications director, told The Daily Cardinal in an email that the survey was a response to a Big Ten researcher.
“The timing was merely a coincidence, and drawing a connection between the two would be misleading,” she said.
Still, Lockwood said it’s “highly concerning” that the survey came immediately after campus trans athletes felt they needed to defend their right to participate in front of the state Legislature and is RecWell's first communication on trans athletes since.
Lockwood spent almost seven hours at an Assembly Committee on University and Colleges meeting, where he testified “about [his] ability to participate in athletics as a trans man at this university.”
“I feel like people would probably be upset reading this, knowing the political climate on campus,” added Witt, the swim club captain.
Witt said he isn’t aware of any guidance on what RecWell sends to members of club athletics. Swim Club has had trans and non-binary athletes before, he said — there was a trans athlete who attended the first few team practices last year and a non-binary athlete competes on this year’s team.
Lockwood also said he isn’t aware of any communication standards for RecWell.
RecWell sent survey to aid research
Sarah Barnes, associate director of marketing and communications for RecWell, told the Cardinal via email that RecWell collaborates with other Big Ten universities “whenever possible” to share research participation opportunities if they have Institutional Review Board approval, which she said Anderson’s does.
“Please keep in mind that while sharing research in this space is a best practice, it is not an endorsement of that research or its content,” she added.
Barnes said Anderson’s research helps “collegiate spaces across the United States” devise ways to create spaces that are inclusive.
“In order to get the research he needs, he needs support from partners in this field,” Barnes added.
RecWell Director Aaron Hobson sent an update email early Thursday afternoon to recipients of the survey after receiving feedback and questions about it. The update was not sent campus-wide.
“We understand that language in the study referencing transgender people was upsetting to some, particularly given the current climate,” Hobson wrote, adding that the language did not reflect its “values and approach to our spaces and programs,” Hobson added.
“We are sorry for how the language may have landed without warning,” Hobson wrote.
In addition, Hobson pointed to RecWell’s gender equity policy, which allows athletes to play on gendered clubs that match their gender regardless of national governing body policies.
“We support all athletes, including transgender athletes, in our spaces,” Hobson wrote.
Anderson, the University of Indiana professor, told the Cardinal that because he isn’t located within UW-Madison, he “likely wouldn’t have the access to send such a survey to the entire student body” and would need further permission and “origination” from campus administration.
“My research is largely within the campus recreational sport space, so that is the focus of the study,” he added.
He said study is an extension of a similar study researchers did with NCAA intercollegiate athletes.
The email RecWell sent to students eligible for the study said it is meant to provide participants, administrators and other interested parties information about “transgender athletics participation,” its acceptance and “further direction in this emerging participatory category.”
“This information will expand the discussion around transgender athlete participation in campus recreation and will help to inform future educational and policy initiatives,” the email read.
Trans athletes already face discrimination at UW-Madison
As a three-year member of UW-Madison’s men's water polo club, Lockwood said his team has been “nothing but respectful and supportive.”
Though he’s had difficulties with transphobia before — particularly in one instance where a commentator misgendered him during a livestream of the collegiate Water Polo Association — he said club presidents have always supported him throughout his tenure and during that incident.
But working with RecWell hasn’t been easy, especially in uniform compliance, Lockwood said. The team has always “had to go through the wringer” to get a uniform approved for him.
“I have not received what’s colloquially known as top surgery yet, so I still wear what one would deem as traditionally a women’s water polo suit,” Lockwood explained.
Throughout his first year and every year since, branding on his suit has been a “point of contention.”
“They design a suit that’s different than the one they designed for the women’s team to match the branding of men’s club water polo,” Lockwood said.
His club presidents have “gone to bat for [him]” with RecWell about getting a suit approved yearly — it’s occurred two separate times, and Lockwood said communications have been termed to him as RecWell “putting up a little bit of a fight.”
In general, Lockwood said acceptance from other athletes and across state lines — while dealing with differing state laws on participation — is a continual concern for trans athletes.
ASM, UW-Madison’s student government, is already bringing forth legislation at Wednesday’s Student Council session to designate UW-Madison as a trans sanctuary campus, Lockwood said.
He said ASM may add RecWell as not being an enforcement factor, in that legislation, on trans sports bans.
”I’m proud of myself and other trans athletes who, every day go through an attack on our sports, go through an attack on our personhood,” Lockwood said. “I really hope the decision about this messaging from Rec Well does not discourage other trans students from participating in club or intramural athletics because we have a rich history in sports.”
Editor's note: This article was updated at 12:08 p.m. on Wednesday, October 11, 2023, to clarify the nature of a trans student's involvement with the UW Swim Club.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 1:17 p.m. on Friday, October 13, 2023, to add an email RecWell sent to survey recipients.
Liam Beran is the former campus news editor for The Daily Cardinal and a third-year English major. He has written in-depth on higher-education issues and covered state news. He is a now a summer LGBTQ+ news fellow with The Nation. Follow him on Twitter at @liampberan.
