After years of pressure, the University Board of Regents will vote on whether to add the phrase "gender identity and expression" to the non-discrimination clause of the University's bylaws.

If the regents approve the measure - slated to be voted on at the board's meeting on Thursday - the University of Michigan will join the more than 75 other colleges and universities around the country that have added the phrase to non-discrimination clauses at the urging of activists who say the changes make campuses safer and more inclusive for transgender students and faculty.

The University has said that its current non-discrimination clause adequately protects transgender individuals from hate crimes and acts of intolerance on campus because they are included under the term sex. The University added an asterisk to the term sex in 2005 with a footnote explaining that the term also protects gender identity and expression.

But activists in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, as well as many others, have vehemently argued that without the specific inclusion of the term gender identity and expression in the bylaws, transgender individuals remain vulnerable to narrow interpretations of the discrimination clause.

Jackie Simpson, director of the University's Office of Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Affairs, said while the current bylaws are technically effective, the University's decision to use an asterisk to provide this protection rather than simply including transgender in the non-discrimination clause is in itself troubling.

"It sends a wrong message," she said. "There's something about it that doesn't feel right."

Simpson said the proposed changes are significant because they send the message that transgender individuals are an important part of the community and are supported by the University.

"I see it as a huge victory," she said. "I see it as a historic moment."

Regent Julia Darlow (D--Ann Arbor) says she'll vote to approve the measure.

"Although you can make arguments that the bylaw already covers this topic, I think that making the position and the support unquestionably clear is truly important to the people concerned and to all of us really," she said. "The bylaws can be open to interpretation but they should not be open to interpretation on this issue."

Regent Andrew Richner (R--Grosse Pointe Park) could not be reached for comment and none of the other regents responded to requests for comment yesterday.

Four other schools in the Big Ten already explicitly list gender identity and expression in their non-discrimination clause. Students and faculty at two other schools are protected by state non-discrimination clauses that include gender expression. That has left many feeling that the University of Michigan has been dragging its feet.

"With all due respect to the regents, we're appreciating the change and we're glad that we're doing it but there is a sense that it has taken too long," said Jaya Kalra, a former co-chair of the University's chapter of Stonewall Democrats, an arm of the College Democrats that addresses LGBT issues and has long advocated a change in the bylaws.

Kalra said the persistent activism of student groups on this issue has made the change possible.

"We created an environment in which the bylaw change was inevitable," she said.

In 2005, the Wolverine Coalition for Human Rights, a group created to change the bylaws, began sending six speakers to each regents meeting to lobby the board. Activists also held days of Transgender Remembrance to honor individuals killed because of their gender identity.

Kalra also said that the regents - who are elected in partisan elections - have taken overly politicized positions on this issue, and the election of Darlow last year may have made the board more receptive to the measure. Darlow, a Democrat, replaced Republican David Brandon.

Kalra said that after state voters passed a ban on gay marriage in 2004, the regents, fearing for their seats, were reluctant to support a stance that might be seen as too liberal on issues of sexuality.

"After (the ban) passed, the regents may have perceived the political environment to be more hostile than it was," she said. "They have been too cautious."

In 2004, a University task force that investigated transgender issues recommended that gender identity and expression be included in the non-discrimination clause. The regents, though, never voted on the measure.

Former Provost Paul Courant sent out an e-mail in February 2004 in which he said the University was committed to protecting the rights of transgender people.

Then-University spokeswoman Julie Peterson told The Michigan Daily at the time that the e-mail represented the administration's official policy.