WSU officials respond to class banning 'offensive' terms like male, female, illegal alien
PULLMAN, Wash. -- Washington State University says they will not allow professors to ban the use of certain words, following last week's outcry when news of an instructor docking students for using terms like "illegal aliens," "tranny" and "male or female" broke.
Last week, multiple media outlets learned that WSU graduate teaching instructor Selena Lester Breikss warned her students that they would face punishment, and possibly fail her class, if they used certain terms such as "illegal aliens," and "tranny." These terms, the course syllabi outlined, as well as other "gross generalizations, stereotypes and derogatory/oppressive language," were deemed not acceptable, and could result in punishment.
From Selena Lester Briekss' course "WST33: Women & Popular Culture" class syllabi:
For reference, the Associated Press Style Guide discourages the use of "illegal immigrant," and also prefers the terms "men" and "women" to "male" and "female."
The syllabus' requirements were picked up by some national media outlets, and derided by a number of conservative blogs.
Screenshot from the Daily Caller.
"It's back to school time, America." a piece in the conservative Daily Caller said. "And you know what that means: Taxpayer-funded professors at public universities are flatly censoring politically-incorrect terms and requiring students with white skin to 'defer' to minority students."
The article featured a picture comparison of the Soviet Union's Hammer and Sickle and the WSU cougar mascot.
On Sunday, WSU Interim President Daniel Bernardo responded to the national attention, reminded instructors of First Amendment rights and said the university was "working with faculty members to clarify," course policies.
From Bernardo:
PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State University deeply values the tenets of freedom of expression for every member of our community, including all students, faculty and staff. Those First Amendment rights are reinforced in our policies, procedures and practices. Open dialogue, vigorous debate and the free exchange of ideas, as well as the language used to convey these ideas, are at the core of who we are as a higher education institution.
Over the weekend, we became aware that some faculty members, in the interest of fostering a constructive climate for discussion, included language in class syllabi that has been interpreted as abridging students’ free speech rights. We are working with these faculty members to clarify, and in some cases modify, course policies to ensure that students’ free speech rights are recognized and protected. No student will have points docked merely as a result of using terms that may be deemed offensive to some. Blanket restriction of the use of certain terms is not consistent with the values upon which this university is founded.
Free speech and a constructive climate for learning are not incompatible. We aim to cultivate diversity of expression while protecting individual rights and safety.
To this end, we are asking all faculty members to take a moment to review their course policies to ensure that students’ right to freedom of expression is protected along with a safe and productive learning environment.
The Daily Caller heralded the WSU president's response in a piece titled, Washington State U. SMACKS DOWN Professors Who Want To CENSOR Politically-Incorrect Language.
It is not known if the course syllabi has since been modified.