Mount Holyoke College threatens to punish those who mock its 'pronoun policy'

Founded in 1837, Mount Holyoke College, located in western Massachusetts, is one of the oldest women's colleges in the United States and, according to its website, prides itself on being so. However, for more than a decade now, the university has generated controversy for adopting woke policies that call into question its status as one of the country's most prestigious all-women's colleges.

In particular, the most recent episode concerns its pronoun policy and a controversial e-mail from its provost in which she instructs professors to denounce students who do not comply with its woke rules.

On September 4, a post on X (formerly Twitter) exposed Mount Holyoke's Provost and Dean of Faculty Lisa M. Sullivan, who stated in a corporate message that "[i]t is the expectation of the College that faculty report when misgendering occurs," especially "when the misgendering has created a hostile environment" or when "there is open mocking of our Pronoun Policy or an individual’s choice of pronouns."

In the post, Sullivan also asks faculty to communicate when "a student reports being misgendered, deadnamed, or has been subject to incorrect use of their pronouns."

In its "Pronoun Disclosure and Exchange Policy," approved in 2022, the university makes a clear proclamation in defense of trans rights, assuring that it is "committed to affirming the self-determination and expression of all members of the campus community."

The policy, which describes "you, she, they, her, her, my, zir" as examples of pronouns, asks all members of the university to embrace pronoun sharing as a form of inclusivity.

"All employees, students and volunteers of the College are encouraged to integrate pronoun sharing/disclosure opportunities in the communications, documents and systems that they navigate. Additionally, all College-affiliated individuals and representatives should identify opportunities to invite sharing of personal pronouns in interpersonal interactions."

Although this controversy is recent, Mount Holyoke College's history with woke policies is far from new. A decade ago, in 2014, the college became the second "all-female" college in the country to begin accepting applications from transgender students.

The situation provoked much criticism among students at the time.

This is how the PBS described the news ten years ago:

"When Mount Holyoke president Lynn Pasquerella made the announcement during this year’s convocation, tears welled in her eyes. She announced that the school was adopting a new policy welcoming applications from any qualified student who is female or who identifies as a woman."

In particular, Pasquerella said, "In the past, the Common Application would have kicked out anyone who checked the male box on the application (...) Now we have a section on the Common Application that allows them to talk about their gender identity."

However, many students were against the policy in 2014, when the woke movement in the United States had not yet fully developed and was also not part of the national conversation.

Emma Bickford was one of the students who opposed the policy: "To me, if you are still legally a man, even if you identify as a woman, you are not a woman (...)So this is an all-women’s school, and I just don’t think you belong here."

Ten years later, the controversy over woke policies continues at Mount Holyoke College, whose status as a "women-only" college is increasingly being questioned.