Daniel S. Miller: Word switch at Smith College

 

The May 5 Gazette quotes an email from three faculty members at the Smith College School of Social Work announcing that the continued use of the word field, as in field placements, “may hold negative associations’’ with slavery. [“School at Smith College ends use of the word ‘field’”]. The school will use practicum instead.

The crucial word is neither “field’’ nor “practicum.” It’s “may.’’ The faculty members did not report that anyone had actually taken offense; all they said is that it may happen. (The proper word is “might.’’ Saying that something may happen gives it permission to do so.)

Is the word switch meant to spare people’s feelings or an attempt to keep Smith from being sued by a party who claimed to have suffered from such “negative associations?” If that lawsuit were to happen, it would have done so by now. The school’s move is over-vigilance writ large. Of course, a lawsuit is possible. Never say never. The move has provided folks with a chance to quickly and easily demonstrate sympathy with “centering the lived experiences of marginalized communities,’’ as the Gazette phrases it. I wonder if it has occurred to anyone at the school that expunging “field’’ might cause students to feel more patronized than protected. Presuming to know what might offend someone before knowing them is condescension. Nobody likes being approached that way.

Daniel S. Miller

Granby

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