Texas Christian University to nix the word 'freshmen' in push for 'inclusive excellence'

[Punter1]

Lettermans Association: Gone
Freshman: Gone

Don't people realize the word "Woman" has man in it??

 

[Moose Stuff]

Texas Christian University has announced that it will no longer use the term "freshmen" in an effort to be more inclusive.

Instead, the school will refer to students in college for the first time as "first-year" students. The term will also apply to students with fewer than 24 credit hours, regardless of how long they have been enrolled in school.

TCU's Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs called the change "a reflection of our university-wide commitment to inclusive excellence."

https://www.campusreform.org/articl...mNXcsCYKaR07_BGwaErfZ8gdFllIKZ2LJDRpHZDesrjUQ

My gut reaction to this is to refer to everyone I see on that campus as “freshman”.

 

[The Artist Formerly Known as PhormerPhrog]

Are guys in the gay organization on the lookout for fresh men? Asking for Maniac...

 

[geezer]

My gut reaction to this is to refer to everyone I see on that campus as “freshman”.

I find calling everyone "young'un" to be easier and more inclusive.

 

[TCUdirtbag]

Please explain the money spent making this change and why it’s necessary. I would love to know and recognize you are far more plugged into these types of things.

I’m not seeing where you’re getting the idea that there’s some meaningful cash outlay for this. A few find and replaces here and there in some policies and forms and webpages. That’s a normal summer for a university under constant regulatory change. This is a tiny fraction of the sort of work you saw the university take on last summer with new federal Title IX regulations or the policy changes in response to Covid. It’s not a rebranding or a change in conference affiliation. There’s not much outward facing to it. And the “first year” language isn’t anything new—they’ve been using it for years in most contexts (decades in some). There is very little to this. A few people are blowing this waaaay out of proportion.

 

[ftwfrog]

I talked to a higher-up. She told me that this was done, as the article states, “to push for inclusive excellence”. More about persons starting classes late in life, not about gender. Most people had associated the word, “freshman” with 18-19 year olds. When a brave veteran on the GI bill shows up, “first year” made sense, and isnt always followed by a chuckle. How damn American TCU is!!! I couldn’t be more proud of my beloved, god fearing university!!!

I really wish maniac would show some respect for our heroes.

 

[Paul in uhh]

Yep. You can take selected Harvard and MIT classes for free now. Proof of concept

Do you get graded on those?

 

[steelfrog]

Do you get graded on those?

Yep. Homework, tests, the full monty

 

[tcumaniac]

Yes, a trend started ….. checks notes ….. in 1998 by the “bastion of liberalism” University of South Carolina*

Regardless of there being a gender term within the word “freshmen”, schools have moved toward the term “first year” over 2+ decades in a push to better include transfer and non-traditional students in the university community. TCU may be making this announcement about a formal change, but they’ve effectively done this for years — i.e. the office of “First Year Experience.” Expanding programs historically reserved for “freshmen” to all “first year students” is proven to increase not only a sense of community and inclusion for all students, but also retention and persistence/graduation rates (thereby reducing debt without degree and positively impacting university recruitment and rankings).

Your incessant whining lacks context, reflects total ignorance, and is a desperate attempt to make literally everything all about your political persuasion and an outlet to express political rage.

Shut the scheiss up and go read something. Ignorance is a choice you have made, but it’s not one you have to keep making.


* See https://journals.psu.edu/mentor/article/view/61495/61147

To your credit, it never ceases to impress me the amount of creativity you have in finding ways to always justify and rationalize complete lunacy.

 

[tcumaniac]

My gut reaction to this is to refer to everyone I see on that campus as “freshman”.

This will be the next thing Gary gets cancelled for.

 

[Salfrog]

I find calling everyone "young'un" to be easier and more inclusive.

"Young' un" has the word gun in it, so you are being extremely insensitive, and you're promoting gun violence.

 

[TCUdirtbag]

To your credit, it never ceases to impress me the amount of creativity you have in finding ways to always justify and rationalize complete lunacy.

You’s be best off just tucking tail and running on this one, maniac.

 

[tcudoc]

Just wait until the woke crowd figures out that TCU awards “Masters” degrees. Uh oh...

 

[The Artist Formerly Known as PhormerPhrog]

Just wait until the woke crowd figures out that TCU awards “Masters” degrees. Uh oh...

Doctor derives from the word for a church elder...they won't like that one either.

 

[LVH]

Major TCU donor Patsy "Lipstick" Zuninatello is outraged at this and is considering withholding donations

 

[SwissArmyFrog]

This is nothing more than inclusive idiocy and inclusive pandering.

 

[Paul in uhh]

Just wait until the woke crowd figures out that TCU awards “Masters” degrees. Uh oh...

Somehow it’ll stay because “middle management” degree doesn’t have the same prestige to it

 

[Paul in uhh]

Major TCU donor Patsy "Lipstick" Zuninatello is outraged at this and is considering withholding donations

lipstick died about 8 years ago sir. How offensive.

 

[RoyaltyWorePurple]

Yes, a trend started ….. checks notes ….. in 1998 by the “bastion of liberalism” University of South Carolina*

Regardless of there being a gender term within the word “freshmen”, schools have moved toward the term “first year” over 2+ decades in a push to better include transfer and non-traditional students in the university community. TCU may be making this announcement about a formal change, but they’ve effectively done this for years — i.e. the office of “First Year Experience.” Expanding programs historically reserved for “freshmen” to all “first year students” is proven to increase not only a sense of community and inclusion for all students, but also retention and persistence/graduation rates (thereby reducing debt without degree and positively impacting university recruitment and rankings).

Your incessant whining lacks context, reflects total ignorance, and is a desperate attempt to make literally everything all about your political persuasion and an outlet to express political rage.

Shut the scheiss up and go read something. Ignorance is a choice you have made, but it’s not one you have to keep making.


* See https://journals.psu.edu/mentor/article/view/61495/61147

Not that it matters, but UVA (a school founded in 1819) has ALWAYS referred to students as 1st year, 2nd year etc. It was meant to say that a person never stops learning, and is purely tied to their "years of higher education". All of our service academies and military schools refer to their 1st year students by their class (4th class, 3rd class etc). I really don't think this is a huge deal.

 

[Pharm Frog]

I talked to a higher-up. She told me that this was done, as the article states, “to push for inclusive excellence”. More about persons starting classes late in life, not about gender. Most people had associated the word, “freshman” with 18-19 year olds. When a brave veteran on the GI bill shows up, “first year” made sense, and isnt always followed by a chuckle. How damn American TCU is!!! I couldn’t be more proud of my beloved, god fearing university!!!

I really wish maniac would show some respect for our heroes.

Could have stopped reading at “higher up” as generally speaking that’s a significant part of the problem. And, I wonder if we have the right caliber of GI fighting for us if they get offended at at the connotation associated with the word freshman. My best hunch is that 99.75% of them don’t give a [ Finebaum ] and the people making these decisions would also be the ones degrading the American GI as baby killers and the like.