Brandeis University Releases ‘Oppressive Language List’ That Includes ‘Policeman’
“university’s Office of Communications, Marketing and External Relations has not yet responded to Campus Reform’s multiple requests for comment”
When will we see a pro-free speech student movement that rejects this tyranny of language?
Campus Reform reports:
Brandeis U: Don’t say ‘policeman’ or other ‘offensive’ language
The Prevention, Advocacy & Resource Center (PARC) at Brandeis University has released an “Oppressive Language List” on its website that encourages the school community to cease using the term “policeman.”
“Police Officer” is the university’s preferred term and appears under a set of “Possible Alternatives” for language that PARC deems to be “violent,” “identity-based,” “person-first,” “culturally appropriative,” or that “doesn’t say what we mean.”
PARC designates “killing it” and “trigger warning” as “violent language” due to their “connections to guns for many people.” The university office also includes “picnic” in the same section, alleging that the word is historically associated with lynchings.
Reuters has previously reported on the word “picnic” and found that it “does not originate from racist lynchings.”
Campus Reform reached out to Brandeis University for comment Tuesday, specifically for clarification over the inclusion of “people of color” as both an example of “oppressive language” and a “possible alternative.”
The PARC website informs readers that “people of color” is offensive due to its “generic” nature, but then encourages university personnel to use BIPOC instead, an acronym for “Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.”
The university’s Office of Communications, Marketing and External Relations has not yet responded to Campus Reform’s multiple requests for comment.
The other discouraged terms include “prostitute,” “addict,” and “homeless person.” Instead, the university wants readers to say “person who engages in sex work,” “person with a substance use disorder,” or “person who is experiencing housing insecurity.”
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Comments
“Homeless person” is a bad term? But we only started using it because they didn’t like the previous term, “bum.”
Irv you made my day!!
Replacing a word with a preference for a phrase…Do they actually attempt to speak in this way? It would sound like babble.
I have a relative who is a recent graduate of Berkeley, they DO speak in this way!!!
Was your relative “assigned male at birth” or “assigned female at birth?”
The “policeman” thing is hardly new. That, “mailman,” and “fireman” have been politically incorrect for two decades or more.
I fondly remember when Woonsocket led the charge with “personholes.”
Replacing “prostitute” and “addict” with long, flowery tone poems? You might as well surrender our compact Germanic-based language entirely for one of the wordy Latinate ones.
How about handi-abled? Special needs child?
Well … I’m delighted to see that this isn’t on their oppressive language list … so I can say the following with a clear conscience …
@Brandeis University … Screw You …
Instead of “prostitute,” “addict,” and “homeless person,” how about “whore,” “druggie,” and “bum”? Ah, for the good old says.
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