Stanford University says elimination of harmful language initiative for internal use

Following mixed reactions on word choices under the Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative (EHLI), the Stanford University, California, USA, has clarified that the published index is merely advisory, and “does not represent university policy.”

The University said on Tuesday that the EHLI website is strictly for internal use and provides advice for the IT community at Stanford about word choices in Stanford websites and code.

Stanford University came under fire for listing the word “American” amongst those that should not be used in a language guide designed to avoid harmful terms.

But in a statement on Tuesday, Chief Information Officer, Stanford University, Steve Gallagher, reiterated that “To be very clear, not only is the use of the term ‘American’ not banned at Stanford, it is absolutely welcomed.”

Gallagher said the University understands and appreciates those concerns about the guide’s treatment of the term “American,” prompting the need to clarify the EHLI Stanford Code.

The statement reads in part: “This message seeks to provide clarification about some of the issues discussed.

“First and importantly, the website does not represent university policy. It also does not represent mandates or requirements. The website was created by, and intended for discussion within, the IT community at Stanford. It provides ‘suggested alternatives’ for various terms, and reasons why those terms could be problematic in certain uses. Its aspiration, and the reason for its development, is to support an inclusive community.

“The intent of this particular entry on the EHLI website was to provide perspective on how the term may be imprecise in some specific uses, and to show that in some cases the alternate term ‘US citizen’ may be more precise and appropriate. But, we clearly missed the mark in this presentation.

“This guide for the university’s IT community is undergoing continual review. The spirit behind it, from the beginning, has been to be responsive to feedback and to consider adjustments based on that feedback. We value the input we have been hearing, from a variety of perspectives, and will be reviewing it thoroughly and making adjustments to the guide.”

…the EHLI website was specifically created by and intended for use within the university IT community. It will continue to be refined based on ongoing input from the community.

The EHLI was launched in May, “geared toward helping individuals recognize and address potentially harmful language they may be using,”

 EHLI categories are listed as Ableist, Ageism, Culturally Appropriative, Gender-based, Imprecise Language, Institutionalized Racism, Person-First, Violent and Additional Considerations.

It also suggested that words like “survivor” and “victim,” be replaced by “person who has experienced” or “person who has been impacted by”

The guide noted that “Using person-first language helps to not define people by just one of their experiences. If the person identifies with the term, then use it.”

On Monday, the University published an index of “harmful language” on its website, and urged readers for instance, to replace the term “American” with “U.S. citizen” because “American” often refers to people from the United States only, which insinuates that the U.S. is the most important country in the Americas.

The guide said: “This term often refers to people from the United States only, thereby insinuating that the US is the most important country in the Americas (which is actually made up of 42 countries).”

It added that terms such as “immigrant” should be replaced by “person who has immigrated” or “non-citizen” to avoid referring to people by single characteristics.

In addition to the 13-page outlines, several words against black individuals, indigenous groups, disabilities, LGBTQ+ individuals and others, were replaced or omitted.

“The purpose of this website is to educate people about the possible impact of the words we use,” the statement said.

“Language affects different people in different ways. We are not attempting to assign levels of harm to the terms on this site. We also are not attempting to address all informal uses of language.”

To reinforce Gallagher’s statement the University’s Assistant Vice President, External Communications, Dee Mostofi, also said on Tuesday that the guidelines were meant for “internal use”.

“In this case, the EHLI website was specifically created by and intended for use within the university IT community. It will continue to be refined based on ongoing input from the community,” Mostofi said.