So there you are — in a normal conversation, using common language.
Hence, you throw out a persistent community favorite: the term “ombudsman.”
Then you realize — this isn’t early 2021; times have changed, and you must update your word choice.
Such could be the case if you’re in classes at the University of Pennsylvania.
The Ivy League institution recently released its language guide, and the hammer’s been dropped for its 10,000+ attendees.
Sadly, “ombudsman” may no longer be used.
A reasonable adjustment period can be expected.
In addition to expending effort on “ombudsman,” the Office for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion’s created quite the list of syllables in need of sacking.
Also among them: “mankind,” “chairman,” and “freshman.”
The school’s online Resource on Gender-Inclusive Language lays it out: UP is “committed to supporting an inclusive and welcoming environment for all.”
“Have you ever been called by a name or gender that you don’t identify with?” the page inquires.
Disrespectful and dismissive, misgendering people is a disrespectful act. One way to misgender is to assume you know someone’s gender via their appearance and to call them a name or pronoun that they don’t identify with. You can misgender your class by teaching as if it were all male. Use words with intention and care daily is the best way to practice.
This college is dedicated:
To avoid unintentionally creating a sexist and homophobic classroom environment, during discussions do not limit yourself to male examples or heterosexual examples. Teachers can and should honor the breadth of experience and potential in students’ lives by discussing women, gender non-conforming, and LGBT- identified people. Don’t assume, for example that all doctors must be men.
If I adequately understand, professors should employ periodic instances such as this: “A homosexual nonbinary person hands 5 tickets for a rally on pronoun propriety to a demigendered pansexual. If zer already has 10 tickets, and if a neurodivergent individual who alternates between a transgender lesbian and a gender-dynamic kitten contributes 3 tickets as well, how many tickets do they/zer/bunself now have?”
In case I’m off, an official video helps out.
The clip touts UP’s “sense of belonging.”
“You know, college is a time when students are engaging with their pronouns,” a man points out.
“So it’s (an) important spot where we, you know, be the place where that kind of thing can happen.”
The guide issues instruction on using “gender-inclusive pronouns for third-person singular”:
Subject: ze/zie
Object zim
Possessive Adjective zir
Possessive pronoun zirs
Reflexive zirself
My example seems to have been quite on-point; examples of sentences were suggested
- “Ze loves coffee!”
- “I asked zim to meet me in the library.”
- “Ze taught zirself to play the guitar.”
For a moratorium, here are more words:
- secretary/clerk
- Upperclassmen
- Lowerclassmen
Alternatives
- Administrator
- lower division graduate
- upper division graduate
Also X’d out: “ladies and gentlemen.”
Instead, use “colleagues, guests, all, friends, people, students, folks,” and that prime piece of Pennsylvanian linguistic real estate, “yinz.”
It’s a bold choice: A place tasked with enhancing students’ ability to express themselves tells attendees to diminish their vocabulary toward an aim wholly at odds with the goal of communication. UP seems to want enrollees not to become more descriptive but less.
Future literature is going to be pretty bland, I think.
But maybe no one will notice, as the university’s not nearly alone in its mission to woke up the world.
“Ladies and gentlemen” is getting liberally licked:
British Train Company Apologizes to Nonbinary Passenger for Employee Greeting ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’ – RedState
On the Wings of Woke: Airline Jettisons ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’
Disney Lops ‘Ladies and Gentlemen,’ Bounces ‘Boys and Girls’ in the Name of Inclusion
Still, don’t doubt Pennsylvania’s paving the way.
In March, I covered UP’s nursing exam which made medical students ask imaginary patients their preferred pronouns.
At Pennsylvania State University, a professor told a white student he “may have oppressed somebody” just by virtue of breathing.
These were also available:
In case you missed it…
Pennsylvania University Promotes Men’s Cuddle Group to ‘Redefine Masculinity’ & Prevent Crimehttps://t.co/13QLkPs3en pic.twitter.com/BoCIVKlpFM
— Alex Parker (@alexparker1984) September 3, 2021
Pennsylvania Dental School Combats Transphobia’s Cultural Cavity
https://t.co/9jA9HmnzM8— RedState (@RedState) January 31, 2021
The same goes for society.
University of Pennsylvania’s Office for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion has a job to do, and they do it.
Among education’s evolution, I wonder if the school has another department…I wonder, in fact, if any do…
Does your campus have an Office for Academics
I’m not sure they deal in that anymore.
If not, ladies and gentlemen, I think it’s a shame.
It’s nearly enough to make me complain to an ombudsman.
-ALEX
You can find more of my work here:
Nearly 50 ‘Racial Healing’ Centers Hit American College Campuses
Harvard Hosts a Shakespearean Extravaganza — but Only for Black People
High School’s Halftime Gets Souped-up With Something Far More Fabulous
All my RedState works Click here
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