Re: the March 26 opinion column "Pander-monium at the University of Arizona"Β
The column by Jonathan Hoffman states: "You get there [equality and inclusion] by focusing on what students have in common and treating everyone equally."
The University of Arizona is struggling with the unequal treatment aimed at many in its community. In the real world individuals who seem different are often treated badly by their peers. It is easy to make fun of touchy-feely approaches, but it is not fun to receive unequal treatment, bullying and worse.
As Chair of the Faculty at the UA I support our efforts to treat all students equally and with respect.
What Mr. Hoffman gets wrong is his understanding of language usage. As a cognitive scientist I know that new words, including pronouns, emerge all the time as language usage evolves, as the example of βMs.β shows.
Words serve human purposes β and in this case the purpose is to make sure all students are treated with equal respect. I trust this is a purpose Mr. Hoffman can get behind, even if it involves using words in a new way.
Lynn Nadel
Midtown
