Posted on 12/22/2022 2:41:56 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
Stanford University is scrambling to respond to backlash following reports that an internal guide of removing "harmful language" from the school's online materials included the term "American."
Seeking to "eliminate many forms of harmful language, including racist, violent, and biased... language in Stanford websites and code," the guide labelled the term "American" as "imprecise" given it "often refers to people from the United States only, thereby insinuating that the US is the most important country in the Americas."
The term "American" is a common shorthand for people from the United States and no other country in the Western Hemisphere frequently uses it as an identifier for their citizens.
Now, Stanford has asserted that the Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative, under which the directive fell, did not represent a mandatory policy, but was merely part of an internal document intended for discussion between members of the school's IT department.
"First and importantly, the website does not represent university policy. It also does not represent mandates or requirements," said Stanford Chief Information Officer Steve Gallagher, per the Washington Times. "This guide for the university’s IT community is undergoing continual review."
"The spirit behind it, from the beginning, has been to be responsive to feedback and to consider adjustments based on that feedback," he went on. "We value the input we have been hearing, from a variety of perspectives, and will be reviewing it thoroughly and making adjustments to the guide."
(Excerpt) Read more at justthenews.com ...
Yes, I knew he was right. Being born and raised in the USA, I had just never thought of South American residents as “Americans.” But it makes sense given North America and South America. We grew up with “American” being synonymous with resident of the USA.
United States Below Canada?
...Junior University
I’ve tried to make that distinction before, but it’s hard to
think of something else to say.
“American” rolls off the tongue so easily, it’s hard to pass
up. “I’m from the USA” doesn’t roll off quite so well, but I
think it does avoid offending the other North, Central, and
South American people.
Your link didn’t work for me. Could be something strange on my end. The one below works.
“The spirit behind it, from the beginning, has been to be responsive to feedback and to consider adjustments based on that feedback,”
Time to start giving them feedback.
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