News Story

U of M Brings Personal Pronoun Wars To Michigan

Gender pronouns might include zie, zim, sir, or ve, ver, vis...

A new initiative by the University of Michigan invites students to report their preferred gender pronouns to the university so faculty and staff can use these when addressing each student.

Students can update their gender pronouns on Wolverine Access, a portal for students, faculty, and staff.

Directions on the university's website titled “Help: Gender Identity” say: “Wolverine Access enables you to add, modify, or delete your designated pronouns on record with the University. Designated pronouns are only shared with those who have a legitimate education interest in the information.”

An email sent to the student body by Provost Martha E. Pollack and Vice President for Student Life E. Royster Harper said students can “designate pronouns” for use on class rosters, presumably so professors refer to students by their preferred pronouns.

“The University of Michigan is committed to fostering an environment of inclusiveness,” the letter said. “Consistent with this value, the University has created a process for students to designate pronouns with the University and have those pronouns reflected on class rosters this fall.”

University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald confirmed the email was sent to the study body and faculty on Tuesday. The campus newspaper Michigan Review first reported it.

The letter continued: “A designated pronoun is a pronoun an individual chooses to identify with and expects others to use when referencing them (i.e., he, she, him, his, ze, etc.). Faculty members play a vital role in ensuring all of our community feels valued, respected and included.”

Other commonly used gender pronouns might include zie, zim, sir, or ve, ver, vis.

“Designated Pronouns will automatically populate on all class rosters accessed through Wolverine Access,” the letter read, noting pronouns will not be listed if students do not choose them.

“These changes give students the ability to tell the University what pronoun they identify with for use in our communications and interactions with them,” the letter explains. The letter also says using another student's correct “designated pronoun is one of the most basic ways to show your respect for their identity and to cultivate an environment that respects all gender identities.”

If a mistake is made by referring to another student with the wrong pronoun, the offending person should acknowledge their mistake and use the accurate pronoun next time, the letter says.

The process was created by a “pronoun committee” made up of faculty and staff from all three campuses (Ann Arbor, Dearborn, Flint). Its existence was first reported by the campus newspaper, The Michigan Review.

Fitzgerald said the initiative was brought forward by students.

In the Michigan higher education budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor will get more than any other state university at $308.6 million. Its Flint and Dearborn campuses get another $24.8 million and $22.5 million, respectively.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.

Editorial

Progress Michigan Hits Road With False School 'Cuts' Claims

Respect for the facts still matters

Progress Michigan, a left-progressive advocacy group, has launched an outreach campaign targeting voters in 11 state House districts. Among other things, the campaign will promote the organization’s inaccurate claims that recent legislatures have cut spending on public schools. Progress Michigan claims the last six years have “included cuts to education funding.”

“There is a lot of spin coming from Lansing about education, but parents and teachers who have dealt with cuts and seen first-hand the state of schools know that the GOP education plan has been a failure,” said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan, in a press release.

ForTheRecord says: The claim that Michigan’s public schools are getting fewer state dollars has been widely promoted and just as widely debunked. Mark Schauer, the Democratic candidate for governor in 2014, made the claim a central theme of his failed campaign. In the early months of that year, Michigan Capitol Confidential published multiple reports showing actual budget and appropriation figures contradicting the claim.

Michigan’s mainstream media eventually got it right too. The Detroit Free Press, the statewide news site MLive and the Citizens Research Council were among the organizations refuting Schauer’s “cuts to education” claims, which ultimately backfired on him.

Yet, Progress Michigan still finds the false claim too useful to let go.

So, once again: According to the Senate Fiscal Agency, state funding for K-12 schools has increased every year since the GOP gained control of the legislature.

State dollars devoted to K-12 public education increased from $10.81 billion in 2010-11 (the final state budget signed by then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm) to $12.34 billion in the current 2016-17 budget.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.