W
hile editing articles for
The Michigan Daily, I’ll
often question why a rule
exists. For example, I might wonder
why we don’t use the Oxford comma
or why “percent” is spelled out. While
these little rules are aggravating at
times, I’ll always move on and con-
tinue editing the article. If I let my
frustration toward the silly rule con-
sume me, I would waste time and
never get my job done. I remember a
similar reaction in high school when I
was first learning MLA style. The for-
mat seemed arbitrary, but I knew that
I needed to learn MLA to succeed in
my classes. In short, having to follow
a certain guideline can sometimes
suck, but it’s easier to learn the rules
and follow them than is to ruminate
on them.
A couple of weeks ago, LSA junior
Marisa Frey wrote her “Copy That”
column on how we all have our own
guidelines for how we behave and
interact with others. Keeping this
column in mind over the past few
weeks, I couldn’t help but link it with
the campus-wide focus on personal
pronouns. Essentially, the addition of
personal pronouns to class rosters is a
new part of the teacher’s style guides.
I’m not saying this to downplay the
importance of this addition. I believe
it took too long for the administration
to realize the necessity of including
pronouns on class rosters. The pro-
nouns are another way that profes-
sors can ensure the comfort of all of
their students. Being misidentified is
an unnecessary distraction from a stu-
dent’s education.
If hundreds of thousands of high
school and college students across
the country can all use different for-
mats for their essays and presenta-
tions, then why is keeping personal
pronouns in mind while addressing
students so radical? To some students,
the idea seems so ridiculous that
they’ve responded by mocking it with
#UMPronounChallenge,
a
hashtag
started by LSA junior Grant Strobl,
national chair of the Young Americans
for Freedom. Some students mocked
the new pronoun policy by adding
“Princess” or “King” to their names.
Others responded to the hashtag
with frustrated tweets about why the
#UMPronounChallenge was harmful.
Aside from the fact that calling this
a “pronoun challenge” displayed that
Strobl didn’t understand basic English
grammar, the creation of the hashtag
blatantly ignored the call for a more
inclusive campus.
LSA senior Kyle Stefek responded
with a comment on Strobl’s Facebook
post regarding the addition of “His
Majesty” to his roster.
“I think the only flaw you’ve found
in the University’s system is that they
didn’t account for students who … feel
the need to mock their trans/non-
binary peers,” Stefek wrote. “The fact
that you think this is cause for mock-
ery rather than celebration makes it
clear you don’t really understand your
privilege here — pronouns aren’t arbi-
trary for everyone.”
In the end, all Strobl’s response
did — in addition to cultivating the
prejudices faced by transgender and
non-binary students every day — was
create a deeper divide between stu-
dents who supported the addition of
pronouns to rosters and students who
thought that it was unnecessary.
If I started a hashtag every time
the Daily had a guideline that I didn’t
agree with, I would never get any-
thing done here. To respond with such
mockery of the new guideline — which
is meant to make the University of
Michigan a more comfortable place
for transgender and non-binary stu-
dents — shows an ignorance and an
inability to adapt to a society that has a
constantly changing “Stylebook.”five-
year assignment, I am thankful for my
immigration to the United States. So,
thanks, Mom and Dad, for real this
time, for moving us across the world.
3B
Wednesday, October 19, 2016 / The Statement
Copy That: Going With the “Style”
B Y C L A R E FA I R B A N K S
“I don’t know what locker room he’s in. No, I didn’t
appreciate it, to be completely honest. That’s not
our locker room talk. I don’t know Trump very
well at all, but I don’t know who he’s played for
last couple years to even say he’s been in anybody’s
locker room and had those kind of conversations.”
—UDONIS HASLEM, former Miami Heat player, on Republican presidential
nominee Donald Trump’s 2005 comments about touching women without
their concent, reported earlier this month. Trump has characterized the
remarks as “locker room talk”.
on the record: “Locker Room Talk”
“It is never appropriate to sexually assault or
harass a woman, ever — there’s no place for that,
but to act like I have not heard or said something
inappropriate that I wouldn’t want to get to the
public, it’s just not true. I played for 16 years... but
to act like in my 16 years in an NBA locker room,
I haven’t heard sexually explicit stuff or said
sexually explicit stuff, that’s just not true,”
— CHARLES BARKLEY, former NBA player
“There’s players in our locker room with sisters,
wives, and daughters. There’s not that type of talk
in anyone’s locker room.”
—DOC RIVERS, Los Angeles Clippers head coach
COVER ART: “MOVEMENT” BY ANONYMOUS,
COURTESY OF PRISONER CREATIVE ARTS PROJECT
ILLUSTRATION BY ELISE HAADSMA