The University of Arizona’s College of Humanities is instructing students to say “ouch!” when they are offended by a faculty member or classmate.
The guidelines for how to respond to offensive speech is outlined in a new handbook for faculty, which is entitled “Diversity and Inclusiveness in the Classroom.”
Students are instructed to use “ouch” to indicate that they have been offended. Offenders are instructed to use “oops” to signify their acknowledgment that their words have offended one of their peers.
“This document is intended to be a resource for addressing difficult or challenging topics in the classroom.” Although faculty members are not “required to utilize” the handbook, they are encouraged to utilize it so that they can best “engender the broadest possible perspectives” and “maximize free speech in the classroom,” as the handbook claims.
Some criticized the public institution for the expense at which the “ouch/oops” initiative has been introduced. Jesus Trevino, the university’s Vice Provost for Inclusive Excellence, is paid $214,000 per year to develop diversity and inclusion themed programming for the community and instructional material for the faculty.
Similar programs have been introduced at other institutions around the country. Several schools have licensed a program from the website, ouchthatstereotypehurts.com, which is a $700 program that guides administrators in addressing racial aggressions on campus.
Tom Ciccotta is a libertarian who writes about education and social justice for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or email him at tciccotta@breitbart.com