Universities have traditionally played an important role in preparing young people for a life outside academia. These days, though, it appears that many institutions are more interested in lecturing their academics than teaching students – especially when it comes to using the right kind of language.
That perhaps explains why the University of Manchester released on Wednesday a new ‘Guide to inclusive language’ for its staff, made by its ‘equality, diversity and inclusion team’. The guide aims to tell those working at the university ‘how to use inclusive language to avoid biases, slang or expressions that can exclude certain groups’ and has been added to the uni’s house style page, which means academics will be told to follow the guidance when writing for the university.
And while you might hope that one of Britain’s red brick institutions treats its staff like adults, instead it appears the university has taken a rather more hostile approach to the use of language on campus.
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