Officials at American University are reportedly considering policies that will force faculty and students to use the preferred gender pronouns of their peers on campus.
According to a report by The College Fix, American University officials are considering the adoption of a policy that would require faculty members to address students by their preferred gender pronouns.
A pronoun guide document found on the American University website teaches American University community members how they can use “pronouns respectfully.” The document claims that refusing to use a person’s correct pronoun can make a transgender or non-binary person feel “disrespected and alienated.”
Pronouns are everywhere. We use them every day in speech and in writing to take the place of people’s names. We use them without even thinking about it. Pronouns may not seem like that big of a deal, but they become a bigger deal when you try to live without them. And for some people, pronouns are a big deal because other folks don’t always use the correct pronouns to describe them. The practice of asking individuals what pronouns they use for themselves should be done in an effort to respect the diversity of gender identities beyond man and woman.
Adam Kissel, formerly a member of President Trump’s Department of Education, expressed his concerns the new policy in a letter to American University President Sylvia Burwell. In the letter, Kissel argued that the policy would be a clear violation of the private university’s internal promise to uphold academic freedom and free expression.
“Not only would such a policy be exclusive with respect to people who have moral views that differ from those of the official morality of AU and its Center for Diversity & Inclusion, and not only would such a policy enforce a set of alleged facts that are deeply contested in American society and among scholars,” Kissel argued.
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.