Vanderbilt University in Nashville has been mocked in the press lately over its seemingly neurotic obsession with pronouns. The latest chapter revolves around the staff name tags, which can include employees “preferred pronouns,” like she/her/hers.
Vanderbilt made nametags recently & many included a preferred pronoun section. This is real life: pic.twitter.com/LeT7BCkdmA
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) September 6, 2016
Pronouns have become a contentious issue lately as people with niche gender identities have invented new pronouns to refer to themselves, like ze, xyr, and vis.
According to a university spokesperson, in response to student interest, the school gave staff of the Dean of Students Office the option to include their preferred pronouns on their name tags, which are sometimes worn during major events like move-in day.
The name tags comes on the heels of a controversial pronoun poster that covered Vanderbilt’s campus last week. The poster, which some found condescending, encouraged students and faculty to introduce themselves with their name and preferred pronouns, and provided instructions on how to use exotic new pronouns.
Follow me on Twitter @William__Hicks.
Correction: the original article said the name tags were worn by faculty instead of staff. Apparently there’s a difference.
