University Provost Reprimanded for Bias Against Buddhists for Using the Term ‘Mantra’

University Provost Reprimanded for Bias Against Buddhists for Using the Term ‘Mantra’

Once again, it looks like people are just searching for anything to label as offensive.

The College Fix reports:

Provost reprimanded for using word ‘mantra,’ cited as biased against Buddhists

In November of last year, University of Washington Provost Mark Richards sent a campuswide email to rally students and faculty to support his mission.

“With ‘access and excellence’ as our mantra,” the email read, “we are working hard to more effectively link our capital investments to our academic mission and priorities.”

However, the email, titled “Making Core Investments to Advance Our Mission,” inspired one student at the public research university in Seattle to file a bias complaint against Richards (pictured) for using the term “mantra.”

“Many people in the Buddhist and Hindu community hold this term ‘mantra’ as a highly spiritual and religious experience, not to be used in the way Mark Richards did with nonchalance,” the student complained.

The student categorized use of the term as a violation of the school’s rules on “Ethnicity,” “General Climate,” “National Origin,” and “Religion/Creed” in the bias complaint, suggesting the school address the issue with Richards and the faculty and staff at large.

It did. According to follow-up documents, a diversity staffer advised the provost’s office on the “concern about use of wording.”

Richards did not immediately respond to a request by The College Fix to comment.

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