(PCM) Looks like the University of Tennessee is trying to create their own language by encourage students to do away with sex-specific pronouns such as he, she, him and her, this semester in favor of the new gender neutral pronouns they have recently created.
The University’s Pride Center created new pronouns such as “ze”, “zir” and “xem” as a way to not single out transgender or non-binary students. In a statement Pride Center director Donna Braquet says “The name a student uses may not be the one on the official roster, and the roster name may not be the same gender as the one the student now uses.We should not assume someone’s gender by their appearance, or by what is listed on a roster or in student information system.”
The Pride Center is urging all professors and students to look beyond the traditional pronouns and instead put the new pronouns ze, hir, hirs, and xe, xem, xyr to use. They also urge professors to ask students at the beginning of the semester to tell them their name and preferred pronoun.
While the University’s Pride Center is urging everyone to use these new pronouns as a way to make the campus more inclusive overall, they are in no way mandated or official policy of the University of Tennessee. Not to be offensive in any way, but we think these new pronouns are utterly ridiculous … what do you think? Will they catch on? Somehow we truly doubt it!