Has Stanford University banned the use of the word “Americans” for people living in the United States? – Salvation

French blogger Hugo Jacomet confirms in a tweet published on December 25, which has been viewed almost a million times, that “Stanford University decides to replace the words ‘American’ with ‘US citizen’, the words ‘immigrant’ with ‘immigrant’ or the words ‘double blind education’ with ‘secret education’. The world is turning into a psychiatric hospital…”

Hugo Jacomet narrates the controversy that arose among conservatives in the United States and involved Elon Musk. In a message published on December 20, the media owner of Twitter notes: “Stanford doesn’t accept saying you’re proud to be an American? Surprise! Wow.” Other netizens wrote their outrage when it comes to that “Stanford’s List of Banned Words”.

So what is this? The document in question consulted and published The Wall Street Journal, suggest“to think” the use of certain words instead of others, explaining the reasons for each of the terms.

The words “to escape”.

According to this list, for example, the use of the expression “US citizen” word is preferred “American” means “Mostly only people from the US, which shows that the US is the most important country in the Americas (there are actually 42 countries)”. A statement that particularly angered some conservatives who claimed to be proud “The Americans” and not “United States of America” Where “US citizens”.

There are hundreds of other expressions on this list that would be better to avoid. There are terms like “crazy”, “blind sight”, “disabled parking” those are considered “Certified language that can trivialize the experience of people with disabilities”. And a few English words that contain words man Where “woman”whom “police” (French police) is not comprehensive enough according to the document.

Other expressions related to ethnic origin are also defined in the document. Expressions containing words globally “whites”, “black” or even “grey” (e.g. used to designate certain types of more or less benign hackers) are not recommended because they are attributed to them. “Value connotations based on color (white=good) is an unconsciously racialized act.”

Stanford assures that this guide is not representative of the university

Faced with this controversy, Stanford University’s chief information officer, Steve Gallagher, issued a press release on December 20 confirming that the list was taken from the Harmful Conditions Elimination Initiative (EHLI). “A website that guides the Stanford IT community on word choice in websites and code [informatique utilisé par] Stanford».

But the manager notes “Firstly” more than this website “Does not represent university policy. It does not imply prohibitions or requirements”. The university explains that it is “Created by the Stanford Computing Community and intended for discussion within that community” : “It suggests alternatives to various terms and explains why these terms may cause problems in certain uses. Its desire and the reason for its development is to support an inclusive society.”

The prestigious university also returns to the issue of word usage “American” who aroused the most anger. Steve Gallagher admitted he was “I clearly missed the mark in this presentation” and confirms it “To be clear, the use of the term ‘American’ is not only prohibited at Stanford, but it is completely encouraged.” He remembers this “The purpose of this particular entry on the EHLI website was to provide perspective on how the term can be imprecise in certain specific uses and to show that in some cases the alternative term ‘US citizen’ may be more accurate and more appropriate.”.

To quell controversy, Steve Gallagher insists on this guideline “Under constant surveillance” and listens to different opinions on the topic.