University of Michigan student changes name to 'His Majesty' following new 'inclusive' pronoun policy
The policy was enacted after a ‘pronoun committee’ was set up to ‘foster an environment of inclusiveness'
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Your support makes all the difference.A student has requested that his university call him "His Majesty" to protest against a new policy that respects students’ pronouns of choice, including “they” and “ze”.
The University of Michigan’s new campus policy is to allow students to choose their own personal pronoun which must be respected by other campus members, including professors.
"The University of Michigan is committed to fostering an environment of inclusiveness. Consistent with this value, the University has created a process for students to designate pronouns with the University and have those pronouns reflected on class rosters this fall," administrators wrote in an email, as reported by The College Fix.
Students have been encouraged to log in to the university online roster and update their own titles, and can change them later if they make a mistake the first time round.
But student Grant Strobl, the conservative chairman of the Young Americans for Freedom Board of Governors, told the newspaper that he has asked to be called "His Majesty" to protest the university’s institutionalisation of “arbitrary” pronouns, and a policy which may discipline those who do not use it.
"I have no problem with students asking to be identified a certain way, almost like someone named Richard who would like to be called Dick," he added.
"It is respectful to make a reasonable effort to refer to students in the way that they prefer."
One student replied to Mr Strobl’s tweet, saying his pronoun was "The Greatest Of All Time".
Other social media users criticised Mr Strobl.
"Why does this option irk you so much you have to be rude? It harms no one and helps many LGBT folks," wrote a user called "Liz?".
The policy was enacted at the university thanks to a “pronoun committee”, made up of officials, administrators, sociology and linguistics professors at the University of Michigan.
Mr Strobl has featured numerous times on Fox News, Breitbart news and other outlets.
His previous issues have included fighting for the university to go ahead with its screening of the film American Sniper, despite criticisms of racism from the student Muslim body.
He also accused a former professor of bias against Republicans, and has frequently spoken for the right of freedom of speech.
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