Name Policy

HUC-JIR maintains the full legal name of students. Requests for a change of legal name are only allowed for current students. Once a student has left the College-Institute (e.g., graduation, withdrawal, dismissal), the student’s education record is sealed and no further changes will be made.

Students may:

• change your name legally;
• provide a different, chosen/preferred name instead of your legal name in our systems (e.g., SIS, Canvas);
• request a change to the HUC-JIR email name assigned upon enrollment.

For a legal-name change: Acceptable documentation includes valid driver’s license, marriage license, divorce decree that reinstates the maiden name, adoption documents, court order, or valid passport. Documents that are not considered acceptable legal documents include a social security card or a notarized statement. For international students on a visa, the requested name must reflect the name that appears on the visa. The legal name will remain within HUC-JIR's various internal systems and processes, including, but not limited to, the Student Information System, official enrollment lists, development databases, and federal student-loan reporting.

The student’s name that appears on an application for graduation or ordination must match the legal name on file with HUC-JIR or the chosen/preferred name on file in the Student Information System in order to allow for future identification and certification. A Request for Change of Name with acceptable documentation needs to be submitted to the Office of the Registrar before or with an application for graduation or ordination.

For a chosen/preferred-name change: A chosen/preferred name is not equivalent to a legal name. The chosen/preferred name will be listed in Canvas, class rosters, campus rosters, campus programming, and the Student Information System (as "preferred name"). You may also request a diploma and/or ordination document with your chosen/preferred name and/or a change to your HUC email address. 

Chosen/Preferred names and email addresses may include the following options:

• inclusion of former or maiden name
• inclusion of proper capitalization and diacritics of name
• inclusion of maternal surnames as culturally appropriate
• name which conforms with genuine expression of gender identity
• first name or initial
• diminutive or alternate form for the first name
• omission of the first name when the middle name is used as a salutary name
• middle name or initial

Students who choose to use a name on their diploma or ordination document other than their legal name should be aware that doing so may find that certain processes outside of HUC require additional proof of identification or verifications of your education record. Examples include applications for employment, licensure, credentialing, or visas and may result in additional scrutiny, delay or rejection if based only on these documents.

For an email address change: The default HUC email address is in the form of legal-first-name.legal-last-name@huc.edu. You may change your HUC email address due to a change in your legal or chosen/preferred name. We will try to honor your request, assuming the email address is available and conforms to HUC's standard. Your new email address will be aligned with your updated record and linked to your legal and chosen names for all official records. Your current email address will function as an alias that will continue to forward messages to your new email address.