Representation on Our Terms: How Trans and Gender Diverse People Prioritize Inclusivity in University Information Systems

HCI research increasingly advocates for fluid models of gender to better represent trans and gender diverse people. In many organizations, such flexibility must operate within regulatory, technical, and resource constraints. For example, public universities are legally required to report gender data using binary categories for compliance and oversight. To understand how inclusivity should be implemented under these conditions, we investigated trans and gender diverse people’s representational priorities within a public university’s information systems. Interviews with 23 participants revealed nuanced priorities on acceptable representational trade-offs. Participants preferred accurate representation in back-end systems and other unseen realms over inclusive user interfaces. They also desired agency in how their identities were grouped or simplified in contexts where categorical reduction was unavoidable. We argue for pragmatic notions of inclusivity that balance community values with organizational constraints. Implementing inclusivity in long-lived organizational systems requires discretion and restraint alongside affirming representational practices amid shifting sociopolitical landscapes.