Appendix C

4/27/21

SENATE COMMITTEE ON CURRICULAR AFFAIRS

Removal of Gendered & Binary Terms from Course and Program Descriptions

(Legislative)

Implementation: Upon approval by the Senate

Introduction and Rationale

The University, as with most all academic institutions world-wide, has grown out of a typically male-centered world.  As such, many terms in our lexicon carry a strong, male-centric, binary character to them.  Terms such as ‘freshmen’ are decidedly male-specific, while terms such as ‘upperclassmen’ can be interpreted as both sexist and classist.  Terms such as ‘junior’ and ‘senior’ are parallel to western male father-son naming conventions, and much of our written documentation uses he/she pronouns.

With the implementation of the AD84 – Preferred Name and Gender Identity Policy, it is time to close the loop and ensure that all people are not only able to choose their name & gender identity within our systems, but that these documents and systems are also structured to be inclusive from the start.  We suggest that the University consider changes to all written materials, including recruiting materials, admissions materials, scholarship information, housing materials, other outward-facing documents, internal documents, and websites.  Under the purview of our committee, we make specific recommendations for editorial updates to our course and program descriptions, which appear in the course catalog and bulletin, to remove gendered terms.

Specific Recommendations

  1. Move away from the use of gendered pronouns when referring to students, faculty, staff, and guests in course descriptions and degree program descriptions.
    1. Replace he/him/his and she/her/hers with they/them/theirs or use non-gendered terms such as student, faculty member, staff member, etc.
  2. Move away from the use of academic grouping titles that stem from a primarily male-centric academic history in course descriptions and degree program descriptions.
    1. Replace freshman/sophomore/junior/senior with first-year (1st-year), second-year (2nd-year), third-year (3rd-year), fourth-year (4th-year), and beyond.
      1. Note: some programs include additional undergraduate years, or Integrated Undergraduate-Graduate programs (IUG), that run beyond the typical timeframe, resulting in the nickname ‘super-senior’. This would be replaced with fifth-year (5th-year), and beyond, as needed.
    2. Concerns have been raised that numbering years beyond the fourth (4th) would perhaps negatively reflect on students who, for various reasons, are taking longer to complete their (typically) four-year programs, and are also referred to as ‘super-seniors’.  In this case, the term does often carry a slightly negative connotation.
      1. Students in such situations beyond the fourth (4th) year could instead be referred to as ‘advanced-standing’ students.
    3. Replace ‘underclassmen’ and ‘upperclassmen’ with ‘lower division’ and ‘upper division’.

The committee recognizes that there may be places where these terms, especially gender terms, may need to remain intact, for example in the case of courses or degrees that delve into gender studies.  In such cases, efforts shall be made to clearly delineate between the ‘academic’ study of these gendered terms, and the newly established nomenclature as it would apply to faculty, staff, students, and guests.

During implementation, steps should be taken to ensure that any changes to these terms do not interfere with Federal Financial Aid or other student loans/scholarships, or affect the University’s accreditation or similar legal concerns.

The committee recommends that replacing gendered and binary terms in courses and degree programs be an editorial change that does not require Senate approval (i.e., via a course proposal submitted to the Senate Committee on Curricular Affairs). Upon approval of the Senate, a streamlined implementation of this legislative action will be established jointly by ACUE and SCCA.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON CURRICULAR AFFAIRS

  • Anne Behler
  • Justine Blanford
  • Laurie Breakey
  • David Callejo
  • Lisa Chewning
  • Wendy Coduti
  • Melisa Czymoniewicz-Klippel
  • Cara Fleigel
  • Paula Hamaty
  • David Han
  • Harold Hayford, Co-Vice Chair
  • Peter Iliev
  • Matthew Jordan
  • Kenneth Keiler
  • William Kenyon
  • Suzanna Linn, Co-Vice Chair
  • Joseph Mahoney
  • Megan Marshall
  • Robert Melton
  • Brandi Robinson
  • Janet Schulenberg
  • Andrea Sillner
  • Karin Sprow Forté
  • Alfred Warner
  • Mary Beth Williams, Chair
  • John Yen

Example of Proposed Edits:

Original Description:

THEA 270 Introduction to Lighting Design (3).  Introduction to Lighting Design will focus on helping each student to develop a design process that takes him or her from script to stage.

Administrative Edit:

THEA 270 Introduction to Lighting Design (3).  Introduction to Lighting Design will focus on helping each student to develop a design process that takes them from script to stage.

A course description such as this, however, would remain untouched:

THEA 207 Gender and Theatre (3) (GA;US).  Theatre 207 provides a basic survey of issues of representations of gender identity in theatre. The course will trace women’s experiences in theatre from their absence on European classical stages to the more recent formation of feminist theatres.