This College Gives Out Gender Pronoun Pins
If you walk into a library at the University of Kansas, chances are you’ll run into a few people wearing square white pins. On each pin might be “He, Him, His,” “She, Her, Hers,” or “They, Them, Theirs.” That’s because the library system at the university now lets employees and students identify their preferred gender pronouns in an attempt to make everyone feel included at school.
According to the Lawrence Journal-World, the initiative is part of the libraries’ “You Belong Here” campaign, which aims to make all undergraduates feel welcome. Signs are posted at the libraries to explain the new option. Here’s what they say:
Because gender is, itself, fluid and up to the individual. Each person has the right to identify their own pronouns, and we encourage you to ask before assuming someone’s gender. Pronouns matter! Misgendering someone can have lasting consequences, and using the incorrect pronoun can be hurtful, disrespectful, and invalidate someone’s identity.
The program is voluntary for employees, and students can get buttons if they just ask for them. And the program has been so popular that they have had to reorder buttons at least once already. (Though it's important to note that some students and staff may actually go by a different pronoun other than he, she, or they.)
The library system says it’s a way to value the right to freedom of expression. “A commitment to support the voices of marginalized people is part and parcel to the libraries’ commitment to the values of the First Amendment,” dean of libraries Kevin Smith told the newspaper.
But not everyone is on board with this. Fox News’ Brit Hume tweeted that the program was “foolishness” and she got a lot of positive feedback.
"Because gender is fluid and up to the individual..." Good grief. Is there no end to this foolishness? https://t.co/upxY8htxn2
- Brit Hume (@brithume) December 30, 2016
This isn’t the first time a school has offered buttons like this though. The Associated Press reports that Champlain College in Vermont did something similar, and the University of Vermont has let teachers wear nametags and hand out business cards with their preferred gender pronouns. As for students, the University of Michigan lets them use their own pronouns on class rosters.
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