TCU to stop using ‘freshmen’ for first-year students in nod to gender inclusiveness

There will be no more freshmen on the TCU campus.

The university announced it will no longer use “freshmen” to describe incoming undergraduate students.

Instead, the school will call them “first-year” students. The term will apply to any student with fewer than 24 credit hours, regardless of how long they have been enrolled.

The change takes effect with the start of the fall semester. The move is a nod to gender inclusiveness.

TCU Chancellor Victor Boschini said the change is a non-story and the campus won’t be enforcing the terms used by its students.

“It’s called America and people are free to use whatever word — and they undoubtedly will,” Boschini said. “I am trying to think of a bigger non-issue to spend my time on. Oh, I can’t.”

TCU’s Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Kathryn Cavins-Tull told campusreform.org that the move is “a reflection of our university-wide commitment to inclusive excellence.”

TCU’s Data Governance Executive Board approved the change by vote.

“This move brings TCU in line with current higher education industry standards,” a TCU release said.

Other universities have made the change, including the University of North Carolina in 2009 and Yale University in 2017.

Penn State’s Faculty Senate voted in April to stop using freshmen, sophomore, junior and senior “because they follow a traditional male naming convention.”

Penn State plans to replace all pronouns in course materials and descriptions with they/them/theirs and use non-gendered terms like student or staff instead. move away from a “typically male-centered world” and rid the college of materials with a strong, male-centric, binary character, according to CBS News.