After news that Elon University banned the term freshman goes national, the university’s VP of communications steps in and clarifies:
Elon University has not banned the word “freshman,” and there is no university policy against using the word, according to Vice-President of University Communications Dan Anderson.
….In The College Fix article, published Nov. 19, Stancy interviews Elon’s Inclusive Community Well-Being Director Leigh-Anne Royster, who, according to the article, says “The term (freshman) has often been felt to refer to the vulnerableness of young women in college for the first time.” The article goes on to say “this change will positively impact future students at Elon and foster progress in inclusivity related to gender.”
Anderson says there was never a change.
“We use the word ‘freshman’ interchangeably,” Anderson said.
Burlington Times-News picks up on the story and the narrative there is the story has been “sensationalized,” i.e. right-wing media were eager to pounce on academic political correctness before checking their facts.
Sure that happens, but the lede in Diana Stancy’s College Fix story reads the university “has dropped the term ‘freshman’ from its vocabulary and replaced it with ‘first-year,’ a move made official this fall and implemented in everything from its website to orientation workshops.”
