Purdue Writing Guide Gets Adult Supervision

Purdue University administrators have assumed editorial content control over a controversial online writing lab guide.

Initially, the online writing lab guide, known as an OWL, warned students to avoid using the word “man” out of fear of offending others. When news of this guide broke, there were several revisions made by the editors. An example of a revision was changing a section title from “non-sexist language” to “gender-biased language.”

The university announced it will shift editorial content control over to an advisory board, which board will work with the College of Liberal Arts Dean David Reingold. It is a minor change, according to Reingold, but faculty members were upset at this development, claiming it is an example of micromanagement by the university.

University Senate member Linda Prokopy said, “We’re really concerned about that decision to take out that language.” She added that faculty members are not pleased with “a dean who is going to be micromanaging.”

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