‘Words declared unacceptable through the campaign include “crazy,” “insane,” “retarded,” “gay,” “tranny,” “gypped,” “illegal alien,” “fag,” “ghetto” and “raghead.” Phrases such as “I want to die” and “that test raped me” are also verboten.’ …
call this legal alien here crazy, but this is insane. (I am typing this as I drive through the ghetto. I hope I dont die)
the school got gypped that’s for sure… many better ways to spend 16k.
Being nicer to other people can only have a positive effect!
Are they going to burn Tom Sawyer, too?
At first I thought this was a joke. Guess not.
If 18-25 year olds at a highly regarded university can’t figure out how to speak properly in public without a campaign like this, then that’s a pretty sad indictment of the student body. Why do they need the “rules” or even “suggestions” in this article to govern their speech?
Kids: If someone is talking to you and using these phrases, and if you don’t like it, then let them know, walk away and don’t ever speak to that person again. Sticks and stones. If the speaker is as insensitive and egregious as you think, they will have no friends and will learn the hard way. On the other hand, if you are the only one offended, maybe it’s YOU who is overly sensitive. You will undoubtedly face much worse people in your life.
Time, place, context, audience. It’s how we all learn to communicate in a civilized, adult world. This campaign is just silly. It’s U Michigan, not kindergarten.
Why are you guys making a fuss about nothing. $16k? Really? That’s peanuts. I am sure there are enough students and faculty in a university with over 40,000 students who would gladly benefit and participate in this activity.
I’m not offended by the amount of money spent; I’m offended by the attempt at stifling speech rather than letting natural consequences of insensitive speech take their own course. Why stop at the selection of phrases in this campaign? I bet if we put our heads together, we could come up with dozens - hundreds -thousands - of words or phrases that one should refrain from uttering in polite/sensitive company. A person should develop his/her speech habits by learning to be attuned to the context of the environment, even if this is through trial and error. Memorizing 8 or 10 or 12 words and phrases to avoid is too juvenile for a college campus IMO.
Where is this money going? You can get all the RA to hold a required seminar for their freshmen and get student orgs to do it for you. You can print out several hundred posters. You can plaster it over social media. Why would you even need to spend more than $50 on it.
By the way, I want to pass on the College Confidential message on the front page about becoming a member
“Not a member? That’s crazy! Sign up here.”
Wasn’t this the UMich Dearborn Campus?
The article refers to the state’s “flagship” university, which I would take to mean Ann Arbor.
“illegal alien” … Am I missing something here ?
The idea is that referring to a person as “illegal” is demeaning. I’ve always been somewhat skeptical of that one, but it’s a popular notion.
To be fair, they should really just target Greek life. Those in Greek life tend be the least socially aware of themselves in terms of race because a lot of them are white majorities.
I really have no thoughts about this either way.
As a Roma, it makes my skin crawl when I hear people say “gypped” I have before and I will again stop complete strangers and explain why that’s not OK.
Also, as a GSI, I had people turn in papers explaining that it wasn’t really “that bad” that Jews were killed during the Nazi era because there were a lot of them…
For 16K, I could have bought over 1600 Chipotle Burritos, and even more from Qdoba. With Guacamole.
However, if it makes a difference, I’m fine with it. But there’s a good chance that nobody will pay attention to the campaign.
Your username has “gypsy” in it. Are you really expecting us to believe you’re offended by the term “gypped?” Come on.
People want to be offended
Some words are truly offensive, and I think we all know what they are. Or if you just arrived on campus from East Podunk where everyone says them, someone will set you straight in short order, possibly painfully.
But to avoid a casual phrase because the PC police have deemed it to be demeaning–that’s just crazy!
I once heard a talk that advised people NOT to avoid phrases such as “Do you see what I mean?” around blind people because gee whiz, they’re just figures of speech and the blind person knows you’re not trying to be offensive. We’d all walk around stammering and stuttering. Not that there’s anything wrong with that… rolleyes