A student at a Catholic college says they received a zero on an assignment because they used gendered language directly from the bible.
The student, from Saint Anselm College, reported the incident to Young America’s Foundation through its Campus Bias Tip Line, saying he or she wanted to remain anonymous for fear of retribution. The student provided YAF with images of their assignment along with comments from the professor, whom The Daily Wire won’t name, explaining why the student’s language had been wrong.
The assignment required students to “use inclusive language, unless exclusive language is used to reflect the biblical text’s perspective.” “Gendered language for God,” however, was permitted. In two instances, the professor marked wrong the student’s use of the words “man” and “mankind.”
“Both of these readings share a picture of what the earth was like before God finished his creation and before God created man,” the student wrote in response to a question about two stories from the Book of Genesis. In response to a second question, the student wrote, “God says to mankind ‘See I give you every seed-bearing plant on all the earth and every and every [sic] that has seed bearing fruit on it be your food.’”
The professor highlighted “man” and “mankind” in the student’s responses and inserted a comment that says: “Because this term is used to refer to the human species, this does not meet Spec 5. Instead, use terms like ‘humankind,’ ‘humanity,’ ‘human beings,’ ‘people,’ and so forth.”
As YAF reported, the students received a grade of pass or fail, and since the student in question was given negative marks for using the “gendered” language, they received a zero on the assignment.
“This professor docked a conservative student for following the biblical text–and using so-called ‘gendered’ language. The terms ‘man’ and ‘mankind’ are frequently used throughout the Bible–and should not be censored out by SJW, virtue-signaling professors trying to rewrite things their way. This asinine behavior and grading criteria should not be tolerated–especially at a Catholic school,” YAF’s Kara Zupkus wrote.
Zupkus added that YAF had independently confirmed the authenticity of the images the student provided.
This is simply the latest example of schools cracking down on gendered language, usually the use of pronouns. As The Daily Wire has previously reported, schools across the country have moved to force students and faculty to use preferred pronouns and avoid common gendered terms. In 2017, the University of Minnesota promoted a new writing resource guide that offered “non-binary gender pronouns.” In 2018, the university went a step further, requiring students and professor to use preferred gender pronouns or else face expulsion or termination. In 2019, The Daily Wire reported that Stanford University cracked down on “misgendering” following a speech from Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro.
“I am writing today about a dimension of diversity that is still too often overlooked and that needs the attention of our entire campus: gender inclusion,” wrote Stanford Provost Persis Drell in a letter to the community following Shapiro’s speech. “At the national level, we have seen protections for gender inclusion rolled back. For example, a few weeks ago a federal judge vacated a portion of a federal regulation protecting transgender individuals from discrimination in certain health care settings. While at Stanford our Nondiscrimination Policy protects gender identity and gender expression, students, staff and alumni have made it clear to me that we have much more work to make Stanford fully gender-inclusive.”