I heard about this on radio news and had to track down some
print media to confirm that I was not suffering from an auditory
hallucination but the City University of New York (CUNY) has
apparently banned the use of "Mr.", "Mrs.", and "Ms." in
correspondence with students. Quoting from the Murdoch rag
"The Wall Street Journal":
|In a new policy that has sparked debate among academics,
|school staffers have been advised to refrain from using gendered
|salutations in correspondence with students-and instead use
|a student's full name, according to an internal memo sent out
|earlier this month.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/cuny-dont-address-students-as-mr-or-ms-1422323867
This policy is supposed to be implemented at the CUNY Graduate
Center (physically, the main building is at 34th St and Fifth Avenue,
and components of the graduate programs are located at specific
CUNY colleges). Whether everyone working in CUNY is supposed
to follow this policy is unclear but it appears that the powers that be
want the policy to implemented as broadly as possibly.
The NY Daily News also has a bit on this, see:
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/editorial-master-stupidity-article-1.2094329
I have not seen the written policy but the sources above and elsewhere
indicate that the use of such "gendered salutations" is old-fashioned or
out-of-fashion as well as potentially offensive to transgendered
students.
The NY Times apparently hasn't picked up this story yet.
NOTE: No other NYC college (i.e., Non-CUNY) appears ready to make
such a change.
-Mike Palij
New York University
m...@nyu.edu
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