Saren Craig (they, them), a former student at College of the Ozarks, is a plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education that argues the religious exemption to Title IX violates the civil rights of LGBTQ+ people.
The subject line read “Notice of Charge." But Hargrove misread the line at first, thinking it read “Notice of Change” and had something to do with her new course schedule. The semester had just started, and Hargrove was still ironing out which classes to drop or keep. Yet once she scanned the words on her phone, it quickly became clear that Hargrove was wrong.
“I was really kind of blindsided, especially with misreading the email at first,” said Hargrove. “It was basically my school telling me that they knew that I’m trans, and that I can either withdraw or face a disciplinary committee because of this. What am I going to do?”
A few months earlier in 2020, Hargrove had started transitioning to living as a woman. She had only recently realized and accepted that she identified as a transgender woman. Hargrove was already enrolled full-time at LCU in 2020 after serving in the U.S. Air Force for almost nine years. She grew up in a religious household and sought a career in the ministry. Faith was — and still is — an important part of her. This email from her own faith-based college, however, devastated her.
“They were literally saying because you’re trans, that’s a disciplinary problem,” said Hargrove. “But I am trans. I have nothing to defend against. That’s just true. It’s part of who I am.”
Hargrove said that LCU's email to her stated that she was “choosing to identify and live as a transgender woman.” In recent months before that notice, Hargrove had written a few blog posts and academic papers in which she mentioned that she was transgender. Hargrove said that she doesn’t know how the institution learned about her transition unless they read her writings.
According to LCU, identifying as transgender violated the Student Handbook and was a “lifestyle choice that did not comply with our behavioral expectations.” Hargrove stared at the words on her phone in disbelief.
