EXCLUSIVE: 'Hot button issues': UF passes out ‘vaccinated,’ preferred pronouns pins
A library at the University of Florida is passing out pins for students to announce their preferred pronouns and vaccination status.
The library nearly ran out of the free pins in about four hours yesterday.
A library at the University of Florida is passing out pins that indicate a students’ preferred pronouns and vaccination status.
Marston Science Library, one of the nine libraries on campus, displayed a board in the entrance way of the building yesterday with a variety of free pins for students to take.
The pins include the pronouns “Ze/Hir,” “Xe, Xem,” “He/They,” “Ze/Zir,” and “They, Them.” Another pin simply read “Ask Me.”
There were also multiple Pride pins available for students to take, with a variety of sexuality flags on them.
Other pins on the board displayed students’ vaccination status. The pins read “I got my shot” and “Vaccinated.”
[RELATED: UVA students scrap gendered pronouns from constitution]
At 10:27 am, a student at the University of Florida took photos of the board. By 2:24PM on the same day, the board was almost empty, with all of the vaccination status pins gone and only a few of the preferred pronouns pins left.
Other pins on the board had landmarks of the University of Florida campus and gators on them.
A sophomore at the University of Florida studying marketing told Campus Reform that she was “shocked” and “disappointed” when she walked into Marston and saw the pins on the board.
“It seems to be just another way for students to be divided, kind of like an unnecessary label,” the student, who wishes to remain anonymous, said. “I am incredibly disappointed.”
The student, who wished to remain anonymous, also said that it is concerning that the university is normalizing such language.
“It distorts reality and what truly is normal,” the student said. “We’ve seen a lot of conversation about what is ‘the new normal,’ and I think that this is an example of that being taken to the utmost extreme. It’s really dangerous to the everyday ideas that hold our society together and I fear that without those, we’re going to go in the wrong direction.”
University of Florida College Republicans President Logan Warren told Campus Reform, “It’s outrageous — but not a surprise — that UF is using public funding to endorse these left-wing political opinions on hot button issues.”
”You’d never see them promote a stance like Blue Lives Matter or Pro-Life,” Warren said.
University of Florida College Republicans Vice President Branyon Skinner said the university shouldn’t be spending its money on these pins.
“I do not believe that the pronoun pins make any real difference in the lives of students,” he said. “That being said, I believe it is a misuse of school funds and tuition dollars because I see them as unnecessary. I am confused to see my University’s Library spend time and money on pointless ventures like this.”
A university spokesperson told Campus Reform, ”The buttons are offered in all UF’s library branches and include numerous designs, such as encouraging vaccinations, reading, school spirit and National Pi Day. Students are welcome to them if they want them.”
Photo Credit: Ophelie Jacobson and the anonymous student
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @opheliejacobson
