Penn State Dropping Gendered Terms Like 'Freshman' And 'Junior'

STATE COLLEGE, PA — Penn State's Senate faculty has voted to no longer use gendered pronouns when referring to students, faculty, staff and guests in course descriptions and degree program descriptions.

The Senate faculty recently approved a measure to move away from the use of academic grouping titles that it says stem from a primarily male-centric academic history.

According to the Senate faculty, terms such as "freshmen" are "decidedly male-specific," while terms such as "upperclassmen" can be interpreted as "both sexist and classist."

Terms such as "junior" and "senior" are "parallel to western male father-son naming conventions, and much of our written documentation uses he/she pronouns," a Senate faculty memo stated.

Instead of "freshman," "sophomore," "junior" and "senior," students will instead be "first-year," "second-year," "third-year" and "fourth-year."

The university also will replace "underclassmen" and "upperclassmen" with "lower division" and "upper division."

There is no date for the changes to be implemented.

"It is time to close the loop and ensure that all people are not only able to choose their name and gender identity within our systems, but that these documents and systems are also structured to be inclusive from the start," the memo said.

Additionally, the plan includes replacing the use of "he/him/his" and "she/her/hers" with "they/them/theirs." Non-gendered terms such as "student," "faculty member" or "staff member" will be acceptable, according to the memo.

There is some concern about numbering the years of study beyond the fourth year, Penn State officials said.

"Concerns have been raised that numbering years beyond the fourth would perhaps negatively reflect on students who, for various reasons, are taking longer to complete their (typically) four-year programs, and are also referred to as ‘super-seniors,’" the faculty memo said. "In this case, the term does often carry a slightly negative connotation. Students in such situations beyond the fourth year could instead be referred to as ‘advanced-standing’ students."

All written materials — including recruiting materials, admissions materials, scholarship information, housing materials, internal documents and websites — should be updated with the changes, the Senate faculty recommends.