<p>I recently found out that students at Brown who are minorities are considered to be part of the “Third World Community.” They say that this title takes away the negative stigma of being called a “minority,” and that it is a much more politically correct way of calling someone who has a multi-cultural background.</p>
<p>However, I found this term to be absolutely ridiculous. I mean, “Third World”? If anything, I think it sounds worse than calling someone a “minority.” Furthermore, who wants to be associated with a word that the rest of the population associates with undeveloped countries with poverty, famines, and bloody civil wars?</p>
<p>I don’t mind Brown and its liberalness, but perhaps this term is a bit over the top?</p>
<p>Yes, a lot of Brown students (including racial/ethnic/cultural/national minorities) consider the term Third World to be outdated, overly PC, and misleading. My guess would be that we're up for a change pretty soon... want to come here and help make it happen?</p>
<p>Even if you don't like the term, there's a lot of really positive stuff going on here for minority (or whatever term you prefer) students.</p>
<p>yea, "third world" is pretty out there. I wonder...what's the better alternative? seems like somehow or another, you can find a way to call any term "overly pc" or demeaning...i can see where brown's going with it, but still say its worth a shot to change the "third world" term.</p>
<p>Okay. You're going to mount a campaign to change the name of a building? See that's an example of where Brown's PC element really spirals out of control. If you want to make a real difference beyond symbolism which Brown U students love so much get involved in the Providence community. If you did your research you would know that when the TWC was so named it came in the mid-seventies and at the time the term was one of empowerment.</p>
<p>No, it's not just the name of the building. It's the name of the entire umbrella program -- and I know when it was named, and why. But if the people it's supposed to be serving no longer like the name, then they should have the right to ask for it to be changed. If an "empowering" name is no longer empowering but rather confusing or even insulting to most, then it can and should be changed.</p>
<p>Obviously, this shouldn't take precedence over the actual issues, but it's not irrelevant.</p>
<p>And of course the disclaimer -- I don't claim to speak for all or any minorities or minority groups on campus. That's why I hedged my statement with "if."</p>
<p>It's so ironic that when used in the context of countries, "Third World" is considered un-PC by some who opt to use "developing nation" these days. But in this case, it's definitely over-the-top PC, even for a liberal like myself.</p>