Leftist Marquette Prof: You’ll Be Penalized for Failing to use “Gender Neutral” Language

With some frequency, we hear stories from students about far-out leftist professors at Marquette.

So it was no surprise when, a few weeks ago, a student told us about a professor (actually, a Visiting Assistant Professor) whom our student viewed as pretty far out.

So far, dog bites man: not news.

This fellow attacked not only contemporary conservatives like Ben Shapiro, but Enlightenment figures like Adam Smith. When the student suggested that the professor read Ben Shapiro’s book The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great, the professor replied “What a stupid ass book. He is a fucking idiot.”

He complained about how little he is paid by Marquette, and leaving class one day advised “Oh, and also support your local unions.” But the job market in academic Philosophy is pretty difficult, especially if you don’t have a Ph.D. from a top program, which this fellow doesn’t. Indeed, one source notes that the market is:

Extremely competitive, and job prospects are often dim even for PhDs who graduate from top programmes.

So it might seem like a visiting gig at Marquette is a lot better than what a lot of PhDs have to settle for — a few adjunct courses at $4,000 or so per course.

But this particular professor is quite tolerant of students who disagree with him in class. He even wrote the student a semi-apology for the comment about Ben Shapiro.

So far, just another average day in academia.

Too Far

But this professor went too far when he informed the student he would be penalized if he did not use “gender neutral” language.  In a message to the student, he claimed that “Use gender inclusive language: humanity is not ‘man’ nor is it a ‘he.’”

The student did not do what most students do, and supinely accept the professor’s diktat. Rather, he complained to the Provost’s office, and particularly to Prof. John Su, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs.

After a meeting which the student said “went really well,” Su wrote the student the following e-mail:

Hope all is well with you. I’ve had several rounds of conversation with the department chair, Dr. Kevin Gibson, and email correspondence with the instructor, Dr. James Bahoh, regarding your request to use gender-specific pronouns in formal written work without penalty.

Dr. Bahoh has indicated his willingness to accept a version of what you and I discussed:

1. In each future assignment, after your first usage of a gender-exclusive or gender-specific pronoun, please add a footnote demonstrating that your usage is a deliberate choice (i.e., not an error).
   a. If it’s helpful, I might use something along the lines of “While I recognize that gender-inclusive language is defined as a best practice by the American Philosophical Association, I disagree with it because of my personal beliefs. My decision to use gender-exclusive language is thus not an accident but a deliberate choice to represent my authentic voice.” If that doesn’t feel right to you, please use what is most compelling to you.
2. Dr. Bahoh also asks that the footnote follow the spirit of philosophy in asking us to articulate the reasoning for our beliefs: specifically, for you to clarify the personal belief that guides you to reject gender-inclusive language. You and I had some conversation about that during our meeting in terms of developing your authentic voice and different language choices in different eras, so that might provide you some guidance. I think this only requires 1-2 additional sentences.

I hope this is a reasonable resolution for you.

On your behalf, I pressed the department chair about writing expectations. He indicated to me that the department as a whole follows the American Philosophical Association’s best practice guidelines regarding gender-neutral language. He provided us the following URL: https://www.apaonline.org/page/nonsexist

Please let me know if this works for you. I will forward this email to the department chair and associate dean, so that you can have confidence of a written record for this resolution.

I hope this helps you to find a satisfying conclusion to this course. And I hope you have an intellectually engaging end of the semester.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

Sincerely,
John

Surprise

Given Marquette’s mania for political correctness, this outcome is a bit of a surprise. Having to write a footnote is a bit of an imposition — standard English the way it was for centuries before the advent of modern political correctness should be acceptable without explanation. But the imposition is fairly modest.

But what this case probably shows is that, if a student will stand up to a leftist professor’s demands that his speech be censored, the student can prevail.

Most students are unwilling to do this. They will “go along to get along” and simply do — often grudgingly — what the professor demands.

Reasonably tolerant professors will tolerate being challenged by students, and often even welcome it, since it shows that the student is actually paying attention, and might even be engaged.

Intolerant professors need to learn that they cannot with impunity impose their own intolerance on their students. They can only learn this if at least some students push back.

Marquette’s English Department: Gender Neutral Pronouns

It’s the latest politically correct fashion, as explained by The Atlantic Citylab:

While younger generations and progressive companies like Facebook are more likely to embrace the fact that gender is not dichotomous, older generations and slow-changing institutions—such as K-12 schools and prisons—still have catching up to do. For those who don’t identify with the gender marker assigned to them at birth and don’t want to be pinned down by binary labels, the moves made by Harvard and UVM are a good first step.

With lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) folks fighting for more social and legal recognition, the restrictive options of “he” and “she” don’t cut it anymore. The singular “they” is one gender-neutral option, but some people just can’t get used to how grammatically unfamiliar it sounds in sentences like “Riley thought they would be late.”

That same article gives some examples of how to use gender neutral pronouns.

	Nominative (subject)	Objective (object)	Possessive determiner	Possessive Pronoun	Reflexive
Invented pronouns
Ne	Ne laughed	I called nem	Nir eyes gleam	That is nirs	Ne likes nemself
Ve	Ve laughed	I called ver	Vis eyes gleam	That is vis	Ve likes verself
Spivak	Ey laughed	I called em	Eir eyes gleam	That is eirs	Ey likes emself
Ze (or zie) and hir	Ze laughed	I called hir	Hir eyes gleam	That is hirs	Ze likes hirself
Ze (or zie) and zir	Ze laughed	I called zir	Zir eyes gleam	That is zirs	Ze likes zirself
Xe	Xe laughed	I called xem	Xyr eyes gleam	That is xyrs	Xe likes xemself

That’s right. Politically correct types actually expect people to talk like that.

Would something this crazy come to Marquette? Of course. We cannot expect Marquette to resist any trendy notion that is being adopted elsewhere in academia, and one of the places that is most politically correct at Marquette is the English Department.

From an Arts & Science College mailing to all faculty dated January 19, 2016:

Department of English job talk series (Spring 2016)
	Name	Job talk	Title
1	Kantor, Roanne Ro-Ann Can-ter Pronoun: She/hers (Anglophone)	Th 1/21 3:30-4:50 LL 296	“‘Even if You Gain the World’: The Twining Routes of Latin American and South Asian Authors.”
2	Edoro, Ainehi /aɪnehi/ Pronoun: She (Anglophone)	M 1/25 3:30-4:50 MH 105	“Achebe’s Signature: African Literary Archive and the Ancestral Principle.”
3	Bronstein, Michaela mih-KAY-luh BRAWN-steen Pronoun: feminine (Anglophone)	W 1/27 3:30-4:50 MH 105	“The Revolutionary Tradition: Authorship and Assassination from Russia to South Africa.”
4	Grohowski, Mariana Mary-anna  Preferred pronouns: She, Her (RhetComp)	Th 1/28 3:30-4:50 LL 296	“Understanding Current, Former, and Future Military Personnel’s Rhetorical Practices.”
5	Campbell, Lilly - l IH - l ee   k AE m - b uh l Pronoun: she (RhetComp)	M 2/1 3:30-4:50 MH 105	“Embodied Genre Learning in Clinical Nursing Simulations.”
6	Sanchez, Fernando fur-NAN-doe Preferred pronouns: him, his, and he (RhetComp)	W 2/3 3:30-4:50 MH 105	“Multimodal Composition in Urban Design.”
7	Angeli, Liz ændʒəli: (it’s like “Angela” except with “lee” at the end) Pronoun: she, her, hers (RhetComp)	Th 2/4 3:30-4:50 LL 296	“Dispatched and Responding: Rhetorical Work in Emergency Medical Services.”
8	Patterson, G G (“gee”) or GPat (“gee-pat”) Pronouns: They/Them or Ze/Zir (RhetComp)	M 2/8 3:30-4:50 MH 105	“Negotiating Difficult Dialogues at the LGBTQ-Religious Junction.”
9	Martinez, Aja “Asia” Pronoun: Her/she (RhetComp)	W 2/10 3:30-4:50 MH 105	“Counterstory: The Writing and Rhetoric of Critical Race Theory”

Of course, almost all the people on the program are happy with the traditional pronouns. But a certain “G Patterson” wants to be “They/Them” even though he or she (or whatever) is just one person. Or even worse “Ze/Zir.”

Why Not?

So why not simply call people what they want to be called? Isn’t that just polite?

In the first place, it puts a huge burden on everybody in society to learn how each and every person wants to be addressed. Referring to a female-looking person as “she” can become a social gaffe. Using “Ze” sounds downright bizarre.

But Worse

Far worse is that demands to use gender neutral language are an attempt to bully society into accepting a particular idea about gender: that people are not either male or female. Pope Benedict has roundly condemned this view. He says of Chief Rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim:

He quotes the famous saying of Simone de Beauvoir: “one is not born a woman, one becomes so” (on ne naît pas femme, on le devient). These words lay the foundation for what is put forward today under the term “gender” as a new philosophy of sexuality. According to this philosophy, sex is no longer a given element of nature, that man has to accept and personally make sense of: it is a social role that we choose for ourselves, while in the past it was chosen for us by society. The profound falsehood of this theory and of the anthropological revolution contained within it is obvious. People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being. They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves. According to the biblical creation account, being created by God as male and female pertains to the essence of the human creature. This duality is an essential aspect of what being human is all about, as ordained by God. This very duality as something previously given is what is now disputed. The words of the creation account: “male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27) no longer apply. No, what applies now is this: it was not God who created them male and female – hitherto society did this, now we decide for ourselves. Man and woman as created realities, as the nature of the human being, no longer exist. Man calls his nature into question. From now on he is merely spirit and will. The manipulation of nature, which we deplore today where our environment is concerned, now becomes man’s fundamental choice where he himself is concerned. From now on there is only the abstract human being, who chooses for himself what his nature is to be. Man and woman in their created state as complementary versions of what it means to be human are disputed.

Pope Francis takes the same view. According to the National Catholic Reporter:

Pope Francis has strongly criticized modern theories that consider people’s gender identities to exist along a spectrum, saying such theories do not “recognize the order of creation.”

Speaking of gender theory in an interview in a new book released in Italy, the pope even compares such theories to genetic manipulation and nuclear weapons.

Gender theory is a broad term for an academic school of thought that considers how people learn to identify themselves sexually and how they may become typed into certain roles based on societal expectations.

“God has placed man and woman at the summit of creation and has entrusted them with the earth,” Francis says. “The design of the Creator is written in nature.”

More

Another hotbed of political correctness is the Center for Gender and Sexualities Studies. Yes, they specify the pronouns to be used of each staffer. And all of the staff are happy to be called “she.”

But how long will it be at Marquette until somebody is accused of a microaggression, or even harassment for calling somebody “she” or “he” when the person wants to be called “Ze.”

At a university that quickly embraces every politically correct fad — notwithstanding that it is flatly at odds with Catholic teaching — not very long.

Update

A search of the Marquette website shows that this is (so far) an isolated case. Looking for “zirself” and “Xyr” and “zir” and “eirs” turns up no relevant hits. But given Marquette’s pattern of adopting every politically correct initiative trending anywhere else in academia, you can expect this to change.