Not For Polite Company

There's something about college that is intoxicating. I think it's the freedom, the idea that you can do whatever you want with only yourself to blame if it ends badly and yourself to praise if it ends wonderfully. Professors don't call your parents if you miss class. There are multiple options for lunch and you don't need an off campus pass if you want to go to McDonald's. Anything you want to do, anything you want to say, you can.

Unfortunately that apply to everyone else. People can do and say what they want. And sometimes people don't say nice things. Sometimes we don't say nice things.

Offensive and attacking language is everywhere on college campuses. Words that would be censored on TV or the radio are thrown around lazily. Occasionally someone will reprimand offensive language, but not often. And what happens when someone does call out offensive languages? Usually it'll be laughed off or ignored.

Last Tuesday the Sophomore Series featured Brandyn Woodard from Intercultural Life, with a little assistance from your own Intercultural Educator, Izzy. Okay it was maybe 50/50. Our presentation was call "Just Words?" and looked at the impact of offensive language on the community as a whole. The sophomores who attended were positively adorable and surprisingly lacking in offensive language. One activity involved writing as many offensive names as possible and I was impressed with how few racial or gendered insults there were. The classics were all listed but that was about it. So, either our group was being polite or they really didn't know that many offensive insults.

There was a lot of conversations. A lot of questions and answers. And eventually there was the classic Brandyn speech (a complimentary term) in which he talked about the community that was our college and how attacking a person with offensive language attacks the whole community.

So, dear reader, how do you feel about offensive language? How do you feel about insults directed towards someone's race, gender, sexuality, intelligence, or religion? Do they belong on our campus?

Until next time,
Izzy