Stanford University seems to have backpedaled on its controversial “harmful language” guide, acknowledging that it was wrong to have included the word “American.”
“The purpose of this [EHLI] website is to educate people about the possible impact of the words we use,” the language guide said. “Our ‘suggested alternatives’ are in line with those used by peer institutions and within the technology community.”
There was an immediate backlash against the guide, particularly over its advice on how people should replace the word “American” with “U.S. citizen,” one of the suggested changes in the “imprecise language” section.
“[American] often refers to people from the United States only, thereby insinuating that the US is the most important country in the Americas,” the guide explains, noting that the Americas are actually comprised of 42 countries.
Some other recommendations in the guide included replacing the word “Hispanic” with “Latinx, “grandfather” with “legacy,” and “immigrant” with “person who has immigrated.”
‘Absolutely Welcomed’
Steve Gallagher, chief information officer at Stanford University, released a statement on Dec. 20, saying that the EHLI website “does not represent university policy.”“It also does not represent mandates or requirements. The website was created by, and intended for discussion within, the IT community at Stanford,” Gallagher continued. “It provides ‘suggested alternatives’ for various terms, and reasons why those terms could be problematic in certain uses.”
Gallagher pointed out the university had made an error by targeting the term “American.”
“To be very clear, not only is the use of the term ‘American’ not banned at Stanford, it is absolutely welcomed,” he said. “The intent of this particular entry on the EHLI website was to provide perspective on how the term may be imprecise in some specific uses, and to show that in some cases the alternate term ‘US citizen’ may be more precise and appropriate.”
“But, we clearly missed the mark in this presentation,” Gallagher admitted.
Gallagher concluded his statement by saying that the language guide “is undergoing continual review.”
“We value the input we have been hearing, from a variety of perspectives, and will be reviewing it thoroughly and making adjustments to the guide,” he said.
‘Proud to Be an American’
Some Republican lawmakers have taken to Twitter to criticize the university’s effort to change the English language.“I am proud to be an American,” Weber added. “I’ve had enough of the woke liberals trying to destroy America as we know it.”
Twitter’s new chief, Elon Musk, also questioned Stanford University’s motivation.
Opposition
There is also opposition against the language guide inside the university.Dr. Jay Bjattacharya, a professor of health policy at Stanford’s School of Medicine, said he opposed the elimination of the word “American” and added that universities shouldn’t carry out “word policing.”
“Universities are the wrong place for word policing. There are better ways, more effective & more consistent with liberal norms, to teach students respect and compassion for others than a clumsy list of proscribed words.”
