By DAN FAGAN
The University of Alaska, Anchorage is offering a course on the proper use of pronouns. The class doesn’t focus on how to properly use pronouns grammatically. Instead, the course gives instruction on which pronouns to use when speaking to gender-confused individuals. The course is being considered for inclusion in the next course catalog.
The “Pronouns Matter” description course reads: “Explore the importance of using students correct pronouns to create a more welcoming and inclusive learning environment. The session will introduce the topic of pronoun use, explore practices for gender inclusivity in a university context, and illustrate the importance of this practice for student belonging.”
Last year’s offering of this course is found at this link.
The university’s LGBTQIA2S+ Advisory Committee hosts the course, which is open to both faculty and students. Sara Caldwell-Kan, UAA’s Multicultural Student Services director, is listed as the course contact. UAA hired Caldwell-Kan from Oregon State in 2021.
UAA described Caldwell-Kan as someone who “earned a PhD in language, equity and education policy after learning about the unique and embedded systems that continually underserve and marginalized some communities.”
“Caldwell will promote the academic and personal growth of UAA’s minoritized students by continually working with university leadership and the Seawolf community to address barriers and create opportunities,” the school’s website read.
“Higher ed is still disproportionately serving some students better than others and I know we know that otherwise this position wouldn’t exist,” wrote Caldwell-Kan.“Thankfully everyone at UAA that I talked to agreed to want to continue to grow and be a better institution and support students of color, queer students, first-gen students – any marginalized groups.”
For clarification, the word “queer” refers to anyone who is not straight or aligns with so-called heteronormative expectations.
“First gen” students are those whose parents did not graduate college.
Caldwell-Kan released a video six months ago entitled “Pronouns Matter: Understanding Pronoun Use in Teaching and Learning Contexts.” It has had eight views, nine if you include this writer.
In the video, Caldwell-Kan criticizes gender reveal parties for the unborn claiming it could be years until we know the true gender of the child.
Caldwell-Kan says in the training video, “There are some basic things that we have to agree on starting out. And one is that gender is a social construct.”
She also said education systems are built for white affluent men.
“The focus needs to be on folks with marginalized identities because it (education systems) was made for folks with dominant identities,” Caldwell-Kan said in the video.
Caldwell-Kan argues to move forward we must all agree that gender not a matter of biology or x or y chromosomes. Rather, gender is determined by environment and external influences.
Unless students and faculty agreed to this principle, advancement is not possible, she implies.
In other words, unless students and faculty are willing to ignore the science of biology, they won’t get much from the “Pronouns Matter” curriculum.
Dan Fagan is a reporter for Must Read Alaska. Email him. At [email protected]
