The University of Pittsburgh is broadening its anti-discrimination policy to cover individuals whose gender identity and expression could expose them to harassment or unequal treatment.

In making the change, which was sought by a group representing gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender students, Pitt joins a subset of colleges nationwide that recently enacted similar language.

Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg could not be reached for comment yesterday, but in recent days, representatives of both the faculty and the student body were notified of the decision.

Sumter Link, president of the undergraduate student government, said he was told by Mr. Nordenberg after a campus meeting Wednesday that his office approved the new language. The student government board earlier endorsed the idea.

John Baker, University Senate president, also confirmed that a change was in the works.

"I'm very pleased," said Mr. Link, 23, a senior and civil engineering major. "There are now people who will feel more protected by the policy. They are Pitt students and they should be represented just like anybody else."

Pitt's anti-discrimination policy already covers sexual orientation. The change extends those protections to "anyone whose gender identity does not match their assigned sex at birth," said Kelly Coburn, a Pitt senior and vice president of Pitt's Rainbow Alliance, which lobbied for the change.

In addition, she said, it protects those whose expression of their gender by wardrobe or other means "isn't what most people would expect of their sex."

Ms. Coburn said those protected will include, but not be limited to, individuals who underwent or are in the process of having a surgical sex change.

Some proponents said the language will make it easier for Pitt to allow opposite sex students to share the same dorm room. Pitt spokesman Robert Hill did not comment on that point, but said that the policy also applies to the university's housing assignments and that they would be made without discrimination based on gender, identity or expression.

Ms. Coburn said some who pushed for the change over two years were surprised at its quick progress on a campus whose near-decade-long opposition to health benefits for domestic partners of employees spawned a challenge by Pitt of the city's gay rights ordinance. "I think it shows the university is willing to embrace change," she said.