Harvard Students May Be Punished for Not Using Preferred Pronouns

A
Title IX
training at
Harvard University
reportedly told students that failing to use a person’s preferred
pronoun
could be a violation of university policy.

The mandatory training contained multiple fictional scenarios explaining possible violations of the university’s Title IX policies, including one in which a student repeatedly uses the “wrong pronouns” to address someone while making comments about gender identity,
according
to the Washington Free Beacon.

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The training said the behavior described in the scenario “contribute[s] to a climate of disrespect and may also violate Harvard’s policies.” Violations of university Title IX policy on sexual harassment can be punished by “admonition” or even “termination, dismissal, [or] expulsion.”

Another slide contained a diagram of a “Power and Control Wheel,” which reportedly detailed a number of possible behaviors that could violate the university’s policies, including sexual, verbal, emotional, and physical abuse, as well as “cultural/identity abuse,” which included “using the wrong pronouns.”

The wheel diagram is surrounded by words describing “attitudes, beliefs, and systems,” including “racism, xenophobia, sexism, classism, cisheterosexism, ableism-sizeism & fat-phobia.”

Harvard’s treatment of incorrect pronoun use as a violation of Title IX is not unique. In May, a school district in Wisconsin initiated disciplinary proceedings against three male students who refused to address another student by his or her preferred pronouns. In June,
Fairfax County Public Schools
strengthened district policies that could see students punished for the same infraction.

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The Department of Education has proposed an updated regulation to Title IX that would drastically expand nondiscrimination protections for people who identify as transgender. The regulation seeks to include gender identity and sexual orientation as protected classes under the definition of “sex” in the law.

Harvard University did not respond to a request for comment.