A politically charged glossary for Amherst College students that disparages capitalism and dictates a broad range of PC gender terms has been withdrawn after campus Republicans howled in protest, saying the Orwellian language guide threatened to stifle free speech.
“It wasn’t the college’s place to tell us what these things meant,” senior Brantley Mayers of the Amherst College Republicans told the Herald. “They were establishing the parameters of speech.”
On Wednesday, the elite Western Massachusetts liberal arts college’s Office of Diversity & Inclusion posted and emailed to students a “Common Language Guide,” a 36-page document containing dozens of politically correct definitions. Then hours later, following complaints, unposted it.
The document defines “capitalism” as a system that “leads to exploitative labor practices, which affect marginalized groups disproportionately.”
“White feminism” is “predicated upon the erasure of women of color and the ways in which racism and sexism converge and compound one another.”
“Homonationalism,” per the document, is used “to explain the ways in which cis-gay and lesbian veterans of the Iraq War were celebrated as proof of American exceptionalism in contrast to racist/orientalist discourse about Iraqi combatants and other people in Central Asia racialized outside of U.S. understandings of whiteness.”
Amherst College President Biddy Martin — who claimed she hadn’t seen the document before it was posted and sent out — said in a statement that the guide “takes a very problematic approach.”
“When the approach assumes campus-wide agreement about the meaning of terms and about social, economic, and political matters, it runs counter to the core academic values of freedom of thought and expression,” Martin said. “I was not aware that the document was being produced and I did not approve its circulation. It cuts against our efforts to foster open exchange and independent thinking. It is not a formal college document and will not be used as one.”
Norm Jones, the head of that office, wrote in a statement that the goal “was to help create greater awareness of the ways many people at Amherst and beyond understand their own identities.”
But, he said, “I believe it was a mistake to send it from my office to the entire community because of the implication that the guide is meant to dictate speech and expression or ideology on campus. It does not represent an official position of the College or an expectation that everyone on campus should use any particular language or share a point of view. ”
The PC language guide comes at a time when conservatives say they are increasingly under attack on university campuses — with speakers canceled, subjected to violent protests and hectoring, and even charged onerous security fees, while students and professors who take conservative positions say they have been hounded or penalized. Amherst College’s about-face is seen by free-speech advocates as a rare victory.
“It’s pretty uncommon to see something like this retracted,” said Adam Steinbaugh of FIRE, a group that advocates for free speech on campuses nationally.
Mayers and fellow senior Rob Barasch of the College Republicans both praised the college’s handling of their complaints, and said they appreciate their assurances that the school was not trying to enforce the document.
But Mayers said this is the latest example of people at the school making people with his views feel unwelcome, saying, “A culture has been bred on campus that dismisses conservative viewpoints and dismisses conservative students.”