OOPS: Brandeis University uses words from own 'Oppressive Language List' on their website
After breaking the Brandeis 'Oppressive Language List' story, 'Campus Reform' discovered that the university uses the 'offensive' words widely on its website.
Brandeis also removed 'picnic' from the list after 'Campus Reform' reported on the school's inaccurate rationale for including the term.
One Brandeis University office told people to avoid using a list of “oppressive language” from “everyday use,” but used multiple words from that exact same list on their own website.
As Campus Reform reported, the Brandeis University Prevention, Advocacy & Resource Center published an “Oppressive Language List” this past spring. The list urges students not to use words like “rule of thumb,” “freshman,” “walk-in,” “picnic,” and even “policeman,” as those words are used to “perpetuate oppression,” according to the webpage.
However, Campus Reform has found that the university has used several of these “oppressive” words on their own website within the past six months.
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For example, the Brandeis University library Sound and Image Media Studios advertises that “walk-in reservations may also be possible depending upon the day’s traffic.”
The Brandeis University Teacher Education Program Handbook, which was revised this month, states that “As a rule of thumb, attire for secondary school Interns is such that it would not be confused with secondary students’ attire.”
A Brandeis University news article even uses the word “freshman.”
Since Campus Reform reported on the “Oppressive Language List,” a disclaimer was added which indicates that “Use of the suggested alternatives is not a university expectation or requirement.”
”The language you choose to use or not use is entirely up to you,” the webpage now states.
The Prevention, Advocacy & Resource Center also removed the term “picnic” from their “oppressive language list.”
A member of the Young American’s for Liberty at Brandeis University who wishes to remain anonymous told Campus Reform that the list “always came across as a simple bureaucratic power trip that was laughably out of touch. The fact that at least two of the words had false origins given to justify their placement on the list shows that the list had no real research or thought put into it. Any usage of these words by the school just solidifies that message.”
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