Guidelines for employees at the prestigious university include:
• Don’t compliment someone’s shoes.
• Don’t say “Christmas vacation”.
• Don’t schedule staff golf outings.
• Don’t ask a co-worker to stand and be recognized
• Don’t list only male and female genders in a scholarly work.
Update, 8:00am: UNC – Chapel Hill has removed the page, which they say was an “employee contributed” blog post and not the official position of the University. They also say they are working with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) to ensure free speech remains a top priority on campus.
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Faculty at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill can never compliment each others’ shoes again lest they be accused of perpetrating a sexist micro-aggression.
According to UNC’s “Employee Forum” micro-aggression guidelines, first discovered by Campus Reform, University employees will have to watch themselves very carefully because committing a micro-aggression is surprisingly easy.
For instance, if, in the course of an official work event, you compliment your colleague’s cute shoes, you’re really telling an intelligent, competent woman in a position of leadership that you “notice how you look and dress more than I value your intellectual contributions.”
They don’t specify how to handle it if you really do think she has great taste in footwear.
The guide, which was compiled from “researched and published’ scholarly works is designed to combat the various indignities that employees of UNC Chapel Hill suffer regularly, but veers into some interesting territory. For instance, don’t call it “Christmas vacation,” even your week off falls over Christmas, because that indicates the superiority of the Christian faith.
And don’t even bother scheduling that department golf outing; golf is an “expensive and inaccessible sport” for most of the population, and you may be causing your co-workers heartache over being complicit in golf cart classism.
Worse still, never ask colleagues who achieve success to stand and be recognized. It’s possible someone in your audience may not be able to stand.
The guidelines apply to policy and paperwork as well. Listing only “male” and “female” as genders on a form is an automatic micro-aggression against those who don’t identify with one side or the other of the binary gender construct. Having an office dress code that lists “male” and “female” is an unforgivable, cis-gender sin.
Unlike many of these bias identification guides, however, UNC Chapel Hill does offer its employees several resources to aid in behavioral correction. They suggest that the best way to battle your racist, sexist and bigoted tendencies is to “reflect on ways you can increase your cultural intelligence on issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion.”
And keep your eyes on your own shoes.
