Penn State will remove gendered, binary terms like ‘freshman’ and ‘upperclassman’
Pennsylvania State University officials approved a measure that would remove gendered and binary terms like “freshman” and “upperclassman” from course and program descriptions late last month. The changes were suggested in a Penn State University Faculty Senate proposition, AD84 Preferred Name and Gender Identity Policy, which passed on April 27, a university spokesperson told the student newspaper The Daily Collegian. It was unclear when the updated language would be implemented. The proposition recommended changing the nomenclature of college classes from “freshman,” “sophomore,” “junior” and “senior” to “first-year,” “second-year,” “third-year” and “fourth-year.” Among its other recommendations were replacing the terms “underclassmen” and “upperclassmen” […]