Colorado State University recently released an official pronoun statement and pronouns resource website. The Commission on Diversity and Inclusion collaborated with the Office of Inclusive Excellence and the Pride Resource Center to create the statement and website and share them with the campus community.

According to CSU’s pronouns resource webpage, the pronoun statement and website are intended to support the campus community’s right to share their pronouns and have them respected across campus.

“The pronoun statement is really rooted in creating spaces of belonging and strengthening our community ties with one another while also teaching folks how to be better going into the future and how we best support all folks, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation,” said Meg Skeehan, a program assistant in the department of accounting in the College of Business.

Language is changing, and we just have to be open and willing to navigate that and see it not as this burden, but rather as how we can create spaces where everyone feels like they belong.” –Meg Skeehan, program assistant for the CSU department of accounting

Maggie Hendrickson, assistant director of the CSU Pride Resource Center, spoke about how it’s a project that has been years in the making.

“Sharing pronouns and respecting pronouns is really a big sign of affirmation and inclusion for trans(gender) and nonbinary students,” Hendrickson said. “We know that there have been some parts of the University when folks have shared their pronouns or put it on their email signature and people on campus have told them to take it down, like, ‘Don’t do that here.’ So what we wanted was the University to come together and make a clear statement that this is something folks can do and that people are encouraged to do it that way.”

The website provides a video of the statement, printable posters of the pronoun statement, FAQs and more resources to help people continue to learn about pronouns and create a campus culture that supports all gender identities. 

“We built out this website, pronouns.colostate.edu, that has a bunch of resources and the video and posters and things so that we’re not just saying the statement without promoting education; we want to also make sure people can learn about it and get caught up to speed about why it’s important to share pronouns,” Hendrickson said.

According to Skeehan, the 2019 National College Health Assessment data shows that LGBTQ+ students experience the highest level of psychological distress across all CSU populations.

Skeehan also spoke about the Trevor Project’s 2021 National Survey on LGBTQ+ Youth Mental Health, which found an association between affirming transgender and nonbinary young people and lower rates of suicide attempts.

“Language is changing, and we just have to be open and willing to navigate that and see it not as this burden but rather as how we can create spaces where everyone feels like they belong,” Skeehan said.

Reach Piper Russell at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @PiperRussell10.