
Following Harvard University’s recent policy changes regarding preferred gender pronouns, Boston University administrators are examining efforts towards achieving campus-wide acceptance of PGPs.
Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ registration tool now officially allows students to register their preferred gender pronouns, including “ze, hir, hirs” and “they, them, theirs,” The Harvard Crimson reported on Sept. 2.
BU Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore discussed the formation of a focus group to properly address BU’s gender-neutral community on all fronts, including respecting and accepting registered students who do not adhere to binary gender identities such as male or female.
“Right now it’s a small group, we’re trying to just coordinate a strategy and an approach to looking at some of these things, and then I’ll suspect that we’ll have more people involved,” Elmore said. “I’ve been privy to plenty of conversations about it. We’re not at a point where we’re full-on ready to recommend a bunch of policies yet, but we are thinking about it.”
Elmore said the process of personal pronoun selection should start at admissions, in order to make everyone feel included even before they step on campus.
“It’s got to start from day one,” Elmore said. “It’s got to start from how you declare yourself, how you put yourself out there from the time you apply, and then, of course, the systems that are in place, once you’re a student here.”
Elmore said he and the task force are working with a variety of different people to make sure that when the PGP initiative is eventually released, it is done properly, with every voice heard.
The conversation of campus-wide PGPs follows a recent incident in which the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion announced a list of gender-inclusive pronouns, triggering a maelstrom of negative media attention. The office issued an apology, clarifying that “Neither the university nor the Office for Diversity and Inclusion has the power or authority to mandate use of gender-inclusive pronouns.”
BU’s Center of Gender, Sexuality and Activism’s public relations representative Tori Dutcher-Brown said she believes that the conversation is coming at an ideal time, following recent achievements such as gender-neutral housing.
“I think it’s necessary and something that should be done now and should have been done even earlier,” the College of Arts and Sciences junior said. “Here at BU, people have been trying for quite a few years now to really establish that as a normal thing to ask. At the center, we begin each meeting with ‘What are your PGP’s?’”
Dutcher-Brown added that accepting PGPs would positively influence not only students’ comfort, but also their health and success.
“[The current system is] not safe, it’s really not a good environment for learning, so they’re really just not accomplishing anything at this institution,” Dutcher-Brown said. “I think it’s just an unwillingness to change forms, which is frustrating, because it is such an easy thing to do. It’s really just replacing a few words on every format, which they have to review every year anyways.”
Autumn Breaz McArthur, also a member of CGSA and a senior in CAS, said they personally believe that gender-neutral pronouns would enhance the classroom experience at BU, creating a ripple effect on the community.
“I think it can make people feel more included and more accepted in classroom situations,” they said. “This is especially true if classes rely on discussion, and people won’t be worried if they’re going to be referred to in the way that they would like to or not. It seems like it could alleviate a lot of stress from people.”
McArthur said they believe that the lack of education on campus regarding trans issues caused BU’s delayed response.
“The institution also needs to make it known that they know they have trans students that are going to BU. Right now it doesn’t seem like it’s talked about in a public way,” McArthur said. “I think they need to make it easier first for students to have their preferred names in official records, which I know can be difficult based on legal requirements, but I think it’s an important first step.”
Several BU students said that conversations on PGPs should be more visible on campus and that BU needs to take necessary steps to facilitate the talks and demands.
Farhan Hoodbhoy, a freshman in CAS, said that adopting a campus-wide gender-neutral awareness is not just something BU can do, but rather something it must do.
“If you look at any progressive institution, which BU likes to pride itself on being, then you have to realize that not everyone is going to identify as ‘he’ or ‘she’, and not everyone is going to want to be referred to as the only other pronoun, one could say, exists, which is ‘they,’” he said. “People have certain opinions on how they identify themselves, so they need to be able to say to the university, ‘this is how I want you, this is how I want my peers, this is how I want my professors, to refer to me as.”
Cindy Castro, a junior in the Questrom School of Business, said there is no reason at this point not to make the change and accept universal gender-neutral pronouns at BU.
“I think it’s a good step towards making people feel more comfortable on campus, especially since that’s the way they want to be accepted by their student environment,” she said. “I don’t think it hurts anyone at all. If anything, I think it helps whomever wants to be perceived in any way different from the norm as we know it.”