The politically correct dumbing down of American college campuses continues. Vanderbilt University is the latest institution to engage in the absurdity this week after issuing nameplates stating employees’ preferred gender pronouns.
In addition to nameplates, Vanderbilt has recently displayed “pronoun posters” throughout campus with explanations of how to use pronouns when addressing people. One section of the poster states:
“When introducing yourself, offer your name and pronouns - even to familiar colleagues and students.” An example reads, “I’m Steve and I use he/him/his pronouns. What should I call you?”
Another section of the poster asks for students to include their preferred pronouns in their email signature as well as when signing their class syllabus.
Aside from teaching 18-to-21-year-old students how to use pronouns like she, he, and they – Vanderbilt also suggests using gender-neutral pronouns like ze, zir, zirs, hir, and hirs.
“Ze is a real leader on campus,” the poster reads. “I support zir in the classroom by honoring zirs pronouns.”
Even if students were to participate in these methods of communication, the correct grammatical usage in the latter example would be “zir’s,” not “zirs.” Unless we find apostrophes offensive, nowadays.
The pronoun poster even recommends “substituting language such as everybody, folks, or this person for gender binary language: ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, he or she.”
Yes, it seems we have finally reached a point where “ladies and gentlemen” is now offensive.
You can find the full pronoun poster in all its glory right here.
Other schools have taken similar action, like Champlain College earlier this year when they gave out buttons with preferred pronouns including “she/her,” “he/him,” and “xe/xer.” Other institutions engaging in like-minded practices include Harvard, Cornell, MIT, and Ohio University.