California State University-Chico students are being told to avoid phrases such as “man up” or “like a girl” through a campaign that aims to rid the university of an potentially offensive words or phrases.
The athletic department released a news announcement last week saying that as a part of a campaign by the Chico State Student Athlete Advisory Committee, they will participate in the “You Don’t Say” campaign to eliminate potentially offensive language.
Posters have been placed around the school’s campus of images of student athletes captioned with statements “I don’t say” with a phrase that is potentially offensive to some students following it, such as “I don’t say ‘like a girl’ because gender has no limts” or “I don’t say ‘What are you?’ because I know what it feels like to be judged by the color of my skin,” or “I don’t say ‘coward’ because you can’t judge someone else by your own standards.”
The Chico State Athletics Facebook page has dozens of posters with phrases and words that are potentially offensive to some people.
The “You Don’t Say” campaign is a collaboration between two student groups at Duke University and was designed to raise awareness about language that is potentially offensive to some students.
“The whole purpose of this campaign is to open people’s eyes and let them see what these words mean and how hurtful they can be,” said Haley Kroll, the co-President of the Chico State Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Hopefully it will cause people to think before they speak and be aware of the type of inclusive language they should be using.”
Separately, several other schools have laid out several plans to try to put an end to potentially offensive language and clothing.
Earlier this month, The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse held an event to help students determine whether or not their costume was offensive. The University of Florida is also offering counseling to students that are offended by Halloween costumes.
Students at Gettysburg College were shown a film that said the phrase “be a man” is a destructive term.
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