A question on the application for Michigan State University’s Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior program asks prospective students what their “preferred pronouns” are, offering 13 options to select from. The application also includes the category “Other” for students whose pronouns are too cutting-edge for the university to recognize.
The Twitter account Libs of TikTok shared a purported screenshot of the program application on Thursday.
On the application, one question asks: “What are your preferred pronouns?”
Below, applicants have the option of selecting from either: he/him/his, she/her/hers, they/them/theirs, fae/faer/faers, zie/zim/sir, sie/sie/hir, ey/em/eir, ve/ver/vis, tey/ter/tem, e/em/eir, xe/xem/xyr, per/per/pers, ae/aer/aer, or Other.
Michigan State University did not respond to Breitbart News’ inquiry regarding how the school decided which pronouns would get their own box, and which would be in the “Other” category.
The bizarre concept of disclosing one’s “gender pronouns” is a trend that has been festering on college campuses over the years, and slowly making its way into the workforce.
In 2016, administrators at Champlain College in Vermont were caught distributing gender pronoun pins to incoming freshmen, in order to establish the wearer’s preferred pronouns.
That same year, the Princeton University HR department told employees not to use the word “man” in an effort to become more gender-inclusive. In 2017, a pronoun guideline document offered by Bard College encouraged students to use “Ze, Zim, Zir” pronouns.
By 2019, American University in Washington, DC, moved toward making the use of non-binary, preferred pronouns mandatory for faculty when addressing students.
Last year, Columbia University released a video talking about the alleged importance of gender “pronouns,” and warned that “intentionally misgendering someone” is against the school’s nondiscrimination policy.
But not everyone is putting up with these strange new apparent rules.
In April, Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio, was ordered to pay $400,000 in damages and attorney fees after punishing a professor who refused to refer to a male student as a female. The settlement came after a judge ruled that the university had violated the professor’s First Amendment rights.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.