Why then an all-women's school at all? Administrators of all-women’s school: Don’t call students women

Administrators of all-women’s school: Don’t call students women

22 mins

Mount Holyoke College administrators don't want professors to call the female students "women" anymore. The school is trying to promote a more "gender neutral" environment on campus.(Getty Images) 

Sarah Taylor

Mount Holyoke College administrators don’t want their professors calling the school’s all-female students women anymore, according to Campus Reform. The move is an attempt to promote a more “gender neutral” environment on campus.

What are the details?

In addition to avoiding the term “women,” professors of the Massachusetts college have also been instructed to avoid claiming that there are only two genders.

School administrators created the guidelines in question, contained in a school missive titled, “Supporting Trans and Non-Binary Students,” which detail the college’s inclusive procedures.

According to the guide, it is imperative for professors to use the term “Mount Holyoke students” to describe pupils rather than “Mount Holyoke women,” even though the school is an all-female institution.

“Avoid making statements like ‘We’re all women here,'” the guide adds, and also says referring to “the two genders” is inappropriate.

The guide also says that faculty members must allow students to introduce themselves to the class instead of introducing the students themselves to avoid misgendering the students or calling “them by the wrong name entirely.”

Faculty, according to the guide, must allow students to use their own gendered — or non-gender-specific — pronouns as well.

“Don’t assume you can tell what pronouns someone uses based on their appearance,” the guide recommends.

According to administrators, it is imperative that faculty members help foster a bond of “mutual trust” between them and students so that the students can focus on their studies.

“Students who are worried about not being treated with respect can’t concentrate on what we’re [professors] saying,” the guide explains.

Anything else?

The college’s Teaching and Learning Initiative created “Supporting Trans and Non-Binary Students” along with two other manifestos titled, “Inclusive Teaching” and “Intersectionality in the Classroom.”

“Intersectionality in the Classroom” explains that “two transgender students from different class or racial backgrounds are going to have different perspectives and life experiences, even though they have one identity in common”

“An intersectional approach attunes faculty and staff to the wide range of experiences in our student body, allowing them to better support students as they navigate their time at Mount Holyoke,” the guide adds.

The school’s Teaching and Learning Initiative aims to be a “resource for faculty … supporting teaching across a wide range of disciplines, styles, and methods.”