Editorial: In today's wars, everybody loses
Feb. 9, 2016On Friday, online conservative publication The Daily Caller ran the attention-grabbing headline “Prof Bans Students From Saying ‘Husband’ Or ‘Wife’ Because It’s Not ‘Inclusive.’” Author Peter Hasson opens the article with the following sentence: “In just the latest instance of taxpayer-funded censorship, students in one University of Florida course have been banned from using words such as ‘husband,’ ‘wife,’ ‘mom’ or ‘dad’ in the classroom and risk losing points off their grade if they don’t comply.” “Taxpayer-funded censorship”? “University of Florida”? “Dad”?! Juicy, rage-inducing stuff, right? Let’s learn more: “In the syllabus for her ‘Creativity In Context’ class… UF professor Jennifer Lee informs students of her four-paragraph long classroom ‘communications policy’ that she says will enforce ‘ethical conduct’ in the classroom.” The controversial “ethical conduct” Hasson is speaking of refers to Lee’s provisions for inclusive language and behavior in the classroom. Such provisions include the substitution of gender-based words like boyfriend and girlfriend or husband and wife in favor of “partner” or ”significant other” and “family,” as to be “inclusive of alternative orientations and family structures.”