Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver) has reportedly flagged “Standard American English,’ saying it's a concern for "anti-racist" initiatives. According to Campus Reform, the concerns were shared on a webpage dedicated to "Linguistic White Supremacy."
Zachary Marschall is editor in chief of Campus Reform.
"I think this story really demonstrates that people who think Standard American English is racist or a tool of white supremacy just really don't know what they're talking about, and they really are just delusional," says Marschall.
He explained that the university's writing center's website talks about how Standard American English is racist and how teachers should be doing things to make everything anti-racist.
"Including letting students speak or use their own English — whatever that might be — when they communicate thoughts and ideas. This is ridiculous," states Marschall.
Marschall said that grammar and words are constructed over time.
"The English we speak today is not English that was spoken 300 or 1000 years ago, but grammar rules exist for a reason. There is a correct and an incorrect way to speak,” states Marschall. “As we know from Campus Reform reporting, the same people that are going on about these anti-racist initiatives, calling everything they don't like racist, are also the ones who have been implicated in anti-Israel protests."
He noted how in international communications, such as the ongoing peace deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, every individual comma, capitalization, name, and word matters.
"Imagine what would happen to international relations, to international peace, if we just decided that standard language conventions just don't matter. You would never be able to do anything. You would never get peace deals done. The world would be in chaos, and violence would erupt everywhere," says Marschall.
He expresses that, when people like MSU Denver talk about Standard American English being white supremacy, they are wrong.
“They just don't like that they are being forced to teach people, who are failed by their parents and by their high schools, how to speak and write correctly. They don't want that obligation, and it's easier to call things racist than to actually confront the educational failures in our public education system and in our society," concludes Marschall.
