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TCU Replaces 'Freshman' Title With 'First Year Student' To Be Gender Inclusive

Vic Mackey

By Vic Mackey
in Daily Texan

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Vic Mackey

Vic Mackey 47163

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FORT WORTH, Texas - At a time when gender pronouns and gender identity are in the forefront, a North Texas university is updating its language.

TCU will now call freshman, first-year students, in an effort to be more gender inclusive. 

The change is now official, as any TCU student with 24 or fewer credit hours will go by a new classification.

Come fall, there will be no more freshmen at TCU. The university has officially dropped use of the moniker.

 

"Just by speaking more inclusively, we are able to behave more inclusively as well," TCU junior Matt Gill said.

Gill is part of the university's team for implementing the new gender inclusive classification, ‘first-year’ student, instead of freshman.

"It’s also people who are transferring from other schools, or people who didn’t just come out of high school. For example, military veterans," Gill explained.

Gill said the new gender friendly reference is about more than inclusivity.

"So we want to be encompassing of everyone going through their first year here at TCU, at the university. We want to welcome them into the culture of the first-year experience, and part of doing that is by using a term that encompasses that in its entirety," he added.

TCU says the change aligns with its already established programs, like the camps called First Year Experience.

But not everyone agrees with the change.

"Really. We can’t even be called freshmen anymore. I mean, I know people are offended by literally everything nowadays, but that one’s pushing it in my book," Mackenzie Carey said. 

While some said the university can do more.

"There are a lot of words that have men in them. I don’t know. There’s a lot more TCU can do to do inclusion then just change the word freshman," grad student Magy Mekhail said.

Others said it’s just confusing.

"First-year, I think medical school. So if I’m going to call someone a first year, I’m thinking your first year resident or something like that," TCU senior Baylee Gresel said.

"Just calling people by a different name, in and of itself, doesn’t solve problems across the board of inclusivity, but like I said, language is important," Gill said. "The more we are able to start referring to people on equal terms, the better off I think we will be in terms of reaching actual progress."

"So now they’re called first-year and not freshmen, so kind of got to get used to that, you know," TCU senior Gary Winthorp said.

Several universities across the country have made similar changes dropping the term freshmen, including Penn State, Yale, and the University of North Carolina.

 

 

https://www.fox4news.com/news/tcu-replaces-freshman-title-with-first-year-student?utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=trueanthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0lCnUWtNJPz7folWu7HnLaTe2N0ulakBL0DxhvyTo_eS-tXuJ0Z5CInN4

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Nice Guy Eddie

Nice Guy Eddie 13528

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Outside of freshman orientation, I don't recall UT officially referring to students by these classifications.  If anything, it's usually tied to sports. 

Sometimes people look for ways to be offended or they find something that could hypothetically offend someone else. Did a woman personally feel marginalized because of the term freshman? 

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Samson's Wig

Samson's Wig 3194

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I think this is likely more a matter of TCU finding the absolute lowest bar possible to demonstrate solidarity with the squishy feeling of college kids than it is a case of anyone actually being offended.  And given the gender makeup of the school it may be a smart PR move.  When I think of the typical TCU student, however, feminist is not exactly what comes to mind.

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DigglerontheHoof

DigglerontheHoof 21255

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16 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

Isn't TCU largely made up of female students?  I've always thought of it as a women's school, in any event.  This tracks. 

Can't speak for now, but back in my day (late 80s/early 90s), they were plentiful and smokin' hot.  Went to a TCU/SMU game at Ford Field, shortly after the Ponies came back from the DP.  The amount of hot coeds at that game was staggering.

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DaggerHorns

DaggerHorns 3102

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I think it’s obvious that UT is the trend setter here.

TCU will form a committee and find that “freshman” has no malicious intent despite numerous historical references.

The student body will boycott first year classes and the dean will eventually be replaced. After that, the dean will inform students and alums alike that the term “freshman” will continue to be used.

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Js1

Js1 85602

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I mean, I started at UT with like 30 credit hours via AP exams and testing out of some basic requirements.  So while I was a sophomore by credit hours, I was a first year student in terms of my tenure. 

So yes, it does make more sense than designations of freshman/sophomore/junior/senior when you have high school kids coming in with so many credit hours via AP, IB and community college-high school programs that they technically aren't "freshman." 

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DDD Dad

DDD Dad 14352

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10 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

You are correct - I was remembering that stat that more than a thousands confederate officers came from there.  But no, it wasn't expressly military in origin.  

It wasn't even remotely military in origin.

I went there.

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Doc Reeves

Doc Reeves 6434

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1 hour ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Of all the BS "lets change names stuff" this one  seems to be not a big deal.  If you're offended that the word man is in a title you maybe should still be living at home with mummsies, and dadums so have at it.....


No one cares. It’s a meaningless gesture so they can avoid changing something else that matters

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89824

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3 hours ago, Js1 said:

So yes, it does make more sense than designations of freshman/sophomore/junior/senior when you have high school kids coming in with so many credit hours via AP, IB and community college-high school programs that they technically aren't "freshman." 

I wish they had this kind of stuff when I was in high school.  I have friends and relatives whose kids are graduating high school with a bunch of credit hours through community college programs, etc.

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TKthunder2

TKthunder2 4997

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1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said:

Do  you hear announcers calling out a player's academic status in play-by-play often?

Umm…yes they often refer to athletes by their ‘class’, true freshman, sophomore, redshirt Junior, senior, etc…are all common.

 

This issue isn’t a big deal, but that was a stupid comment.

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Js1

Js1 85602

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Just now, TKthunder2 said:

Umm…yes they often refer to athletes by their ‘class’, true freshman, sophomore, redshirt Junior, senior, etc…are all common.

 

This issue isn’t a big deal, but that was a stupid comment.

That’s their athletic class, not (always) their academic class. 

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14 minutes ago, DaggerHorns said:

18 is far more important to most.

depends if you're talking Sugar babies or getting a 30pack of Busch Light on a Friday night.

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