{"id":1214,"date":"2014-09-18T18:44:52","date_gmt":"2014-09-18T22:44:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=1214"},"modified":"2014-09-18T18:44:52","modified_gmt":"2014-09-18T22:44:52","slug":"so-whats-the-big-deal-about-calling-them-freshmen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2014\/09\/18\/so-whats-the-big-deal-about-calling-them-freshmen\/","title":{"rendered":"So What\u2019s the Big Deal About Calling Them Freshmen?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By MORGAN KING –\u00a0STAFF WRITER<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It is a struggle that Centre students have faced since the moment they have moved into their first dorm room. At Centre, and many other colleges across the nation, the students\u2019 first year is not marked by the typical term \u201cfreshman\u201d but instead embrace the more general name of \u201cfirst-year.\u201d This more gender-neutral name is a more inclusive option than \u201cfreshman,\u201d which limits itself with no \u201cfreshwoman\u201d counterpart.<\/p>\n

This gender-neutral stance is an initiative being taken across campuses, with more private schools calling their students \u201cfirst-years\u201d than public ones. The response to its effectiveness, however, is mixed. In 2012, UNC took the initiative to change freshman to first-year and received much backlash against it. In a\u00a0Huffington Post article, critics were asking \u201chow many women have actually filed a serious complaint about this being sexist?\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Centre community, the importance of language remains the primary focus of using the term \u201cfirst-year.\u201d In our society, the term \u201cfreshman\u201d also has negative connotations. To be a freshman means to be ranked the lowest in the hierarchy of the school system. \u201cLanguage shapes our thought,\u201d Associate Dean and Director of the Grissom Scholars Program and Student Leadership Sarah Scott Hall said. \u201cIt is very powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

This view of language is supported and many students, staff, and faculty ensure it is remembered. By using the word \u201cfirst-year\u201d Centre not only becomes more politically correct, but also encourages the use of inclusive language in our daily life. This inclusive language adds to the excellence in bettering a community at Centre\u00a0College.<\/p>\n

For some, however, the word might not seem as degrading. \u201c[They] said something about how using the word \u2018freshman\u2019 is looked upon as degrading, but I don\u2019t know. I\u2019m fine with either one, but it\u2019s kind of nice to be called \u2018first-year,\u2019\u201d first-year woman Beka Bruner said.<\/p>\n

Without the context of the term, there is also the idea of slipping in the term \u201cfirst-year\u201d in a society that places a heavy emphasis on the word \u201cfreshman.\u201d However, those that have the hardest time changing their mindset do not seem that worried.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really don\u2019t find it that hard of a transition to make. I just sometimes have to catch myself if I\u2019m talking to upperclassmen I want to seem proper about it, but otherwise it\u2019s not a big deal to me,\u201d first-year Reuben Russak-Pribble said.<\/p>\n

What do upperclassmen think looking back at being called a first-year here at Centre? Junior Robert Widener doesn\u2019t believe much on the effectiveness of the subject. \u201cIt\u2019s stupid. And it\u2019s used interchangeably. Just because it says first-year on a piece of paper doesn\u2019t mean people don\u2019t automatically think of it as freshman. I mean, at this point, it is just a distinction for the school to make and no one else really cares,\u201d Widener said.<\/p>\n

Many share Widener\u2019s view. Upperclassmen at Centre just do not seem to think much of the distinction, and they rarely have an opinion for or against it. Whether it is because they want this numerical system to continue with \u201csecond-year,\u201d \u201cthird-year,\u201d and ending with \u201cfourth-year\u201d is unclear. It does seem unfair, however, that seniors taking an extra year of schooling are called \u201cfifth-years.\u201d Apparently, this idea has not fully caught on past a student\u2019s first year.<\/p>\n

The real debate of this subject comes from how far Centre is willing to go for an all-encompassing attitude. For example, the word \u201cupperclassmen\u201d itself is limited to one gender, but there has yet to be a gender inclusive initiative taken. If we change freshman, should we not change this term as well? As such, where does the line end for making language gender inclusive and how far is Centre going to go to reach it?<\/p>\n

To first-years, however, this individuality seems to be an exciting and riveting idea. First-year is just not a term used in the typical college setting. Therefore, they are set apart from the wider world because of their status as \u201cfirst-year.\u201d One first year with an unique opinion about the subject is first-year Amaryst Parks, who relates the term back to a nostalgic childhood classic, \u201cIt\u2019s like Hogwarts, I think it is kind of cool, kind of magical, like Centre.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By MORGAN KING –\u00a0STAFF WRITER It is a struggle that Centre students have faced since the moment they have moved into their first dorm room. At Centre, and many other colleges across the nation, the students\u2019 first year is not marked by the typical term \u201cfreshman\u201d but instead embrace the more general name of \u201cfirst-year.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}