Northwestern University bans fat jokes
Making weight-related jokes counts as ‘harassing conduct that may create a hostile environment.’
‘You’d think Northwestern administrators would focus on weightier issues,’ said one commentator.
Northwestern University in Illinois has a policy to discipline community members who make weight-related jokes.
The restrictive provisions fall under the university’s “Policy on Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct,” as The Daily Caller reported.
“Northwestern prohibits discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin, ethnicity, caste, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, parental status, marital status, age, disability, citizenship status, veteran status, genetic information, reproductive health decision making, height, weight, or any other classification protected by law,” the policy reads.
Making a joke about a person’s weight counts as “harassing conduct that may create a hostile environment,” according to Northwestern. “Displays or electronic transmission of derogatory, demeaning, or hostile materials related to one or more actual or perceived protected characteristics” also violate the school’s stipulations.
Disciplinary measures could potentially include verbal or written warnings from the school, forced counseling, “[r]equired training,” being put on probation, and suspension or expulsion from the school, among other measures. Professors could also have their tenure status taken away.
“This new policy is a heavy burden on free speech and has an extra-large chilling effect on campus culture,” Manhattan Institute official Ilya Shapiro told The Daily Caller about the university’s new policy. “You’d think Northwestern administrators would focus on weightier issues.”
[RELATED: Cornell rebrands ‘fatness’ course after controversy]
Campus Reform previously reported on Northwestern’s plans to offer a “Critical Fat Studies” course this fall, which explores “cultural flashpoints that inform anti-fat biases, including the emergence of the body mass index scale, the invention of ‘diet’ foods, and the shortcomings of studying fatness in empirical studies.”
Campus Reform also reported in June on a “fat studies” course at Brown University called “The F-Word: Examining the Science, Culture, and Politics of Fatness.”
This February, the University of New Mexico also offered a “fat studies” class that made participants create a “plus sized outfit.”
Campus Reform has contacted Northwestern University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
