[lg policy] UK: Universities fail to stick to own politically-correct language guides

[Harold Schiffman]

Universities fail to stick to own politically-correct language guides
A group of universities has been caught breaching their own
politically-correct language guides.

Published: 7:00AM BST 07 Aug 2009

Rules at University College London dictate that staff that they must
not use words including "chairman", "chairwoman" and "homosexual".

However, research found 3,000 documents on the university's website
containing the word "chairman". Professor Rajeev MotwaniIn another
example, Loughborough University's "inclusive language policy" advised
staff to use "older people" in preference to phrases such as "the
elderly", "pensioners" or "senior citizens".  However, a press release
last year announcing the Olympic debut of Heather Corrie, a PhD
student and canoeist, failed to follow the guidance.

It referred to the "senior citizens" that the student had been testing
in her work into preventing falls. Lancaster University was also found
to have broken its own rules by the Times Higher Education magazine. A
handbook issued to students by the English department warned: "If an
Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded student does not complete
within four years, then the department is at risk of being
blacklisted".  The university's language guide advises staff to "avoid
terms such as crippled, blacklist or black mark".

The University of Sheffield, which says that "ladies" should not be
used "except when in conjunction with 'gentlemen'", last year held a
conference titled "Bearded Ladies: Hair and Hairiness in Literature
and Culture from the Middle Ages to the Present"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/5984992/Universities-fail-to-stick-to-own-politically-correct-language-guides.html

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