Pronouns and tribal affiliations are now forbidden in South Dakota public university employee emails

[Ferguson97]

https://www.startribune.com/pronouns-and-tribal-affiliations-are-now-forbidden-in-south-dakota-public-university-employee-emails/600368539/

A new South Dakota policy to stop the use of gender pronouns by public university faculty and staff in official correspondence is also keeping Native American employees from listing their tribal affiliations in a state with a long and violent history of conflict with tribes.

A new South Dakota policy to stop the use of gender pronouns by public university faculty and staff in official correspondence is also keeping Native American employees from listing their tribal affiliations in a state with a long and violent history of conflict with tribes.

Two University of South Dakota faculty members, Megan Red Shirt-Shaw and her husband, John Little, have long included their gender pronouns and tribal affiliations in their work email signature blocks. But both received written warnings from the university in March that doing so violated a policy adopted in December by the South Dakota Board of Regents.

''I was told that I had 5 days to remove my tribal affiliation and pronouns,'' Little said in an email to The Associated Press. ''I believe the exact wording was that I had '5 days to correct the behavior.' If my tribal affiliation and pronouns were not removed after the 5 days, then administrators would meet and make a decision whether I would be suspended (with or without pay) and/or immediately terminated.''

The policy is billed by the board as a simple branding and communications policy. It came only months after Republican Gov. Kristi Noem sent a letter to the regents that railed against ''liberal ideologies'' on college campuses and called for the board to ban drag shows on campus and ''remove all references to preferred pronouns in school materials," among other things.

All nine voting members of the board were appointed by Noem, whose remarks in March accusing tribal leaders of benefitting from illegal drug cartels and not properly caring for children has prompted most South Dakota tribes to ban her from their land.

More deranged nonsense from the "party of personal freedom".

The right-wing temper tantrum over pronouns would be pretty hilarious if they kept it on social media instead of violating people's personal freedoms like this.

[Rubensim]

A relief, Probably some leftists will try to smart-ass there way around this bill but well they lose and this will just become a part of south dakota laws.

[dead0man]

I swear both sides are doing everything they can to make sure the people in the middle hate them both.

The Left-some of us do the pronoun thing, it's performative art for sure, but no one is harmed by it
The Right-hey everybody, look at these people!  Bill, I see you 4 days a week, I don't need to know your pronouns are he/him.
The Middle-yeah, seems silly
The Right-yeah, you guys are with me, LETS BAN IT! and while we've got this written out, lets throw a little sh**t at the Indians too!
The Middle-ummmm

[emailking]

If there was some requirement to put your pronouns in your signature or something I could see why that would be problematic, but I don't see what the issue should be with someone doing it on their own. Particularly if the pronouns aren't what someone would expect, that could be useful.

[DaleCooper]

This is obviously a violation of the first amendment, not that the right cares about that.

[brucejoel99]

https://twitter.com/clapifyoulikeme/status/1794271224786505771
"South is a landlocked state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South is named after a tribe that comprises a large portion of the population with nine reservations currently in the state and has historically dominated the territory. South is the 17th largest by area, but the 5th least populous, and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. Pierre is the state capital, and Falls, with a population of about 213,900, is South's most populous city. The state is bisected by a river, dividing South into two geographically and socially distinct halves, known to residents as "East River" and "West River". South is bordered by North to the north, Minnesota to the east, a state to the southeast, Nebraska to the south, Wyoming to the west, and Montana to the northwest."

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

If there is any place you should have a pronoun in your bio it’s in an email.

Like in I get an email from some named Alex Smith, Tracy Davis, or Sam Williams, and I haven’t met them before, I have no idea what gender they could be. It’s just useful information.

[dead0man]

https://twitter.com/clapifyoulikeme/status/1794271224786505771
"South is a landlocked state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South is named after a tribe that comprises a large portion of the population with nine reservations currently in the state and has historically dominated the territory. South is the 17th largest by area, but the 5th least populous, and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. Pierre is the state capital, and Falls, with a population of about 213,900, is South's most populous city. The state is bisected by a river, dividing South into two geographically and socially distinct halves, known to residents as "East River" and "West River". South is bordered by North to the north, Minnesota to the east, a state to the southeast, Nebraska to the south, Wyoming to the west, and Montana to the northwest."

Nebraska, Wyoming, and Minnesota (all three refer to rivers) should also be removed.  "South is bordered by North to the north, several states to it's east and south and one to it's south west, also Montana is west."

[brucejoel99]

https://twitter.com/clapifyoulikeme/status/1794271224786505771

"South is a landlocked state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South is named after a tribe that comprises a large portion of the population with nine reservations currently in the state and has historically dominated the territory. South is the 17th largest by area, but the 5th least populous, and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. Pierre is the state capital, and Falls, with a population of about 213,900, is South's most populous city. The state is bisected by a river, dividing South into two geographically and socially distinct halves, known to residents as "East River" and "West River". South is bordered by North to the north, Minnesota to the east, a state to the southeast, Nebraska to the south, Wyoming to the west, and Montana to the northwest."

Nebraska, Wyoming, and Minnesota (all three refer to rivers) should also be removed.  "South is bordered by North to the north, several states to it's east and south and one to it's south west, also Montana is west."

I applied "tribal affiliations" conservatively & so didn't remove every Indian word but only references to tribal names.

[Mr. Reactionary]

My local government generates automatic signature blocks for each government email address including name, position, basic contact info, and the City logo. The goal is to be as uniform as possible to help identify official emails and promote the branding. We do not allow extraneous information such as pronouns, Bible verses, or inspirational quotes. I do not see a free speech issue with a policy that makes government employee signature blocks on government employee email accounts uniform and limited to specific identifying information. Its no different than a policy prohibiting government employees from putting stickers on their government ID badges or government vehicles. Establishing this type of uniformity is a valid governmental interest.

[Obama24]

Ultimately who gives a f-k what your pronouns are as long as you're a decent person? Trans people represent about 1% of the population but the way both the far left and far right have it, you'd think they're 40% of the country.

[DaleCooper]

Republicans are rapidly turning into the hall monitor party again. "Uniform email signatures only, please!" It's like if Hitler ran an HR department.

[emailking]

My local government generates automatic signature blocks for each government email address including name, position, basic contact info, and the City logo. The goal is to be as uniform as possible to help identify official emails and promote the branding. We do not allow extraneous information such as pronouns, Bible verses, or inspirational quotes. I do not see a free speech issue with a policy that makes government employee signature blocks on government employee email accounts uniform and limited to specific identifying information. Its no different than a policy prohibiting government employees from putting stickers on their government ID badges or government vehicles. Establishing this type of uniformity is a valid governmental interest.

They could put it above that though. Bible verses is potentially a 1st Amendment issue. Inspirational quotes is probably a waste of space.

[wnwnwn]

Wtf has Noem with indigenous tribes?
Does she follow a weird niche alt right meme account or what?

[Ferguson97]

My local government generates automatic signature blocks for each government email address including name, position, basic contact info, and the City logo. The goal is to be as uniform as possible to help identify official emails and promote the branding. We do not allow extraneous information such as pronouns, Bible verses, or inspirational quotes.

Pronouns are closer to "name, position, basic contact info" than "Bible verses and inspirational quotes", so this argument doesn't really hold water.

Like I'd really love for a conservative to explain to me why they have no problem with "Mr. David Jones" but absolutely lose their sh**t when someone writes "David Jones (he/him)" when it's the same f-cking thing. 

[patzer]

If there is any place you should have a pronoun in your bio it’s in an email.

Like in I get an email from some named Alex Smith, Tracy Davis, or Sam Williams, and I haven’t met them before, I have no idea what gender they could be. It’s just useful information.

Not sure why there's a need to know that. I wouldn't know their race from their name either, but that doesn't mean people should start signing off emails with "(Black)" or "(White)".

[Ferguson97]

If there is any place you should have a pronoun in your bio it’s in an email.

Like in I get an email from some named Alex Smith, Tracy Davis, or Sam Williams, and I haven’t met them before, I have no idea what gender they could be. It’s just useful information.

Not sure why there's a need to know that. I wouldn't know their race from their name either, but that doesn't mean people should start signing off emails with "(Black)" or "(White)".

Because using pronouns is a necessary part of communication. "Michael said that he wanted the project finished by the end of the week." / "Do you have Linda's email? I need to get in contact with her." The same is not true of race.

[patzer]

If there is any place you should have a pronoun in your bio it’s in an email.

Like in I get an email from some named Alex Smith, Tracy Davis, or Sam Williams, and I haven’t met them before, I have no idea what gender they could be. It’s just useful information.

Not sure why there's a need to know that. I wouldn't know their race from their name either, but that doesn't mean people should start signing off emails with "(Black)" or "(White)".

Because using pronouns is a necessary part of communication. "Michael said that he wanted the project finished by the end of the week." / "Do you have Linda's email? I need to get in contact with her." The same is not true of race.

The standard practice in such situations is to use gendered pronouns if the gender is known, and "they" if not. It's something which people have always managed fine with.

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

If there is any place you should have a pronoun in your bio it’s in an email.

Like in I get an email from some named Alex Smith, Tracy Davis, or Sam Williams, and I haven’t met them before, I have no idea what gender they could be. It’s just useful information.

Not sure why there's a need to know that. I wouldn't know their race from their name either, but that doesn't mean people should start signing off emails with "(Black)" or "(White)".

Because using pronouns is a necessary part of communication. "Michael said that he wanted the project finished by the end of the week." / "Do you have Linda's email? I need to get in contact with her." The same is not true of race.

Yea. Gendered pronouns are just a basic facet of English and some people (even cis people) get upset if you don’t refer to them correctly. It’s an easy thing to add and it prevents a lot of headaches.

[Tartarus Sauce]

My local government generates automatic signature blocks for each government email address including name, position, basic contact info, and the City logo. The goal is to be as uniform as possible to help identify official emails and promote the branding. We do not allow extraneous information such as pronouns, Bible verses, or inspirational quotes. I do not see a free speech issue with a policy that makes government employee signature blocks on government employee email accounts uniform and limited to specific identifying information. Its no different than a policy prohibiting government employees from putting stickers on their government ID badges or government vehicles. Establishing this type of uniformity is a valid governmental interest.

This would have perhaps been a fair take if they had actually implemented an automated signature block policy, but this is seems to be a targeted ban designed to restrict only pronouns and tribal affiliations.

It’s designed to spite liberals, not generate uniform standards.

[Mr. Smith]

My local government generates automatic signature blocks for each government email address including name, position, basic contact info, and the City logo. The goal is to be as uniform as possible to help identify official emails and promote the branding. We do not allow extraneous information such as pronouns, Bible verses, or inspirational quotes. I do not see a free speech issue with a policy that makes government employee signature blocks on government employee email accounts uniform and limited to specific identifying information. Its no different than a policy prohibiting government employees from putting stickers on their government ID badges or government vehicles. Establishing this type of uniformity is a valid governmental interest.

This would have perhaps been a fair take if they had actually implemented an automated signature block policy, but this is seems to be a targeted ban designed to restrict only pronouns and tribal affiliations.

It’s designed to spite liberals, not generate uniform standards.

Not to mention tribes are a huge facet in some states that having that out there could clear a lot of bureaucratic headaches up down the line. Especially since tribes are often their own nations from within.

[Progressive Pessimist]

That's a dog-gone waste of legislation.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Cartoonishly evil of Republicans in South Dakota doing anti-woke virtue signaling on the back of Native Americans in particular. They're in open contempt of a large segment of their population.

[Agafin]

Cartoonishly evil of Republicans in South Dakota doing anti-woke virtue signaling on the back of Native Americans in particular. They're in open contempt of a large segment of their population.

Well all of the tribes in her state threw a temper tantrum and banned her so what exactly did they expect? They are awful at diplomacy and now she's out of f-ks to give.

[TDAS04]

Kristi Noem is a...

I won't say it. I don't want to insult the female dog she killed.