Yale’s top officials say “it’s time” to leave the term “freshman” behind in favor of something considered gender inclusive.
Administrators at one of the world’s most prestigious universities may adopt the term “first-year” as a way to be more welcoming to new students. Yale’s Dean of Student Affairs Camille Lizarríbar is leading the charge to make it happen “before the next academic year.”
“I think there comes a time when you want to make sure that the way you’re calling things reflects the values that you have,” Ms. Lizarríbar told Yale News on March 8. “If we really are serious about inclusivity and diversity, we need to look at everything. It’s not written in stone that it has to be ’freshman.’ … We do have some agency in what we call things.”
Yale College Dean Jonathan Holloway added that he spent “a lot of time thinking about, recognizing yes, it’s an antiquated term.”
“Dean Lizarríbar, who oversees freshman or first-year orientation … basically said ’it’s time,’ and I have no problem with that,” he added.
Students at the Ivy League university, which was founded in 1701, backed the change.
“The administration should be doing everything it can do to make sure that every student feels included in regular identifiers that people use [among] the undergraduate student body,” Isaac Amend said.
Student Aadit Vyas deemed the change a “fair move.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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