The thinking here is that ‘freshmores’ is more inclusive because it doesn’t contain the word ‘men.’
The College Fix reports:
Dean urges students to use ‘freshmores’ instead of ‘freshmen’ to be more inclusiveAround the Honors College at Appalachian State, you may hear a different way of labeling first-year college students. While they’re commonly referred to as freshmen at most universities, students at the North Carolina-based university often use a different term: “freshmores.”The term was brought to Appalachian State University by Dr. Jefford Vahlbusch, hired in July of last year as dean of the Honors College. Vahlbusch previously held the same post at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, where he first started using the term.In an article in The Appalachian, Vahlbusch said he started using “freshmore” as a “non-sexist way to talk about freshmen.” He said he “got tired of listening to female students say freshman” and that it “just didn’t seem to be right that we didn’t have a non-gender specific way of talking about college students.”Vahlbusch told the campus newspaper the term has since caught on at the honors college.When discussing why he feels using the term is important, Vahlbusch said it “shows awareness in regards to college students.”“We have women and men as college students, and I think having a non-gender specific way of talking about them, of addressing them, just shows that we’re aware of the power of language,” Vahlbusch told the campus newspaper.As far as making it an official term for first-year students, Vahlbusch said “I like change that comes from below, rather than change that comes from above.”
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