Like most colleges have
done in the past months, on Tuesday, administrators of the University of Michigan Ann Arbor announced a new campus policy which effectively allowed students to select their own personal "preferred pronouns". The school informed the entire campus community, students and teachers alike, that they are obligated to adhere to these new rules.
Punishment will be handed out to individuals who disobey the rules."
The University of Michigan is committed to fostering an environment of inclusiveness. Consistent with this value, the University has created a process for students to designate pronouns with the University and have those pronouns reflected on class rosters this fall," reads an email sent by the administration to students and teachers.
"Faculty members play a vital role in ensuring all of our community feels valued, respected and included," the email stated. "...These changes give students the ability to tell the University what pronoun they identify with for use in our communications and interactions with them. A
sking about and correctly using someone's designated pronoun is one of the most basic ways to show your respect for their identity and to cultivate an environment that respects all gender identities."
The university further explained that people who use incorrect pronouns by mistake
should apologize and make sure to never do it again.
However, unlike most other colleges, the school doesn't just present a list of pronouns to choose from,
they also made it possible for students to write-in their own customized pronouns.While all this was going on, one Student by name Grant StrobI decided to take this opportunity to troll the school. He was going to change his pronouns to "His Majesty", and all students and faculty are required to refer to him by that.
Comment: If you're actually on board with this sort of thing, please see
this for your own sake, as well as for those you love.
I wouldn't tell someone, "Hey, she is walking next to me" if I was talking to "she."
I would say, "Hey, you are walking next to me."
When would you ever need to use a bogus pronoun in conversation with the person you are talking to?