Harvard University will no longer call the leaders of student dorms “masters,” after students complained for months that the term reminded them of slavery — a practice that ended long, long before they were born.
The leaders of these dorms will now be called “faculty deans,” not to be confused with the deans of the different colleges. One of those deans, Michael D. Smith of Arts and Sciences, sent an email to students about the change.
“Titles can and should change when such a change serves our mission,” Smith wrote, according to an email obtained by NBC News. “I want to emphasize that a decision to change does not necessarily mean that what came before was wrong. I have not been shown any direct connection between the term House Master and the institution of slavery.”
It looks like it was just easier to make the minor change than argue with the campus crybullies over a word.
But one has to wonder how far the outrage brigade will go now that they’ve been given this inch. Will they demand post-graduate degrees (currently known across the country as “Master’s Degrees”) be changed to something less offensive? I suggest calling them Neutral Non-Specific Person’s Degrees, but even that might offend the most sensitive these days.
Other Ivy League schools (which are both leftist paradises and alleged hotbeds of racism, apparently) are also considering removing the term “master” from their dorm leader’s titles. Yale is debating the issue as we speak, and Princeton students were complaining about the title late last year.
Schools are free to change the word if it will appease the snowflakes, but be warned: They WILL find something else new to complain about. They always do.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
