Alumni
- Identify past and current students by their class years with an apostrophe before the year.
- Bruce Maloch ’80 is president of the Alumni Board.
- alumna = feminine
- alumnae = feminine plural
- alum, alumnus = masculine
- alumni = male plural or male and female plural
Titles
- In general, underline or italicize the titles of works published independently and use quotation marks for the titles of works published within larger works.
- Use full names preceded by an earned title such as Dr., Rev., or Lt. Col. in first references only. Do not use a courtesy title such as Mr., Miss, or Ms. Use the last name only in subsequent references unless a title is necessary to identify persons with the same last name.
Ethnic Groups
- The preferred usage for African Americans is “black.” The term is not capitalized.
- Preferred usage for Caucasians is “white,” also not capitalized.
- Preferred usage for Asian people is “Asian,” capitalized. Please note that in British usage the term applies only to people of the Indian Subcontinent.
- “American Indian,” capitalized with no hyphen, is preferred over “Native American.”
Seasons
- Lowercase “spring,” “summer,” “fall” and “winter” and derivatives such as “wintertime” unless part of a formal name: I love Paris in the springtime; the Winter Olympics.
Inclusive language
- Don’t say “he” when referring to an unspecified person. Instead, rephrase the sentence into the plural, or avoid the use of pronouns altogether.
- The students’ papers are due on Tuesday.
- Avoid gender-specific titles or terms.
- Roger Giles is the vice president for administration and general counsel. Vice President Roger Giles will give the report.
- Avoid stereotypes: Age, gender, national or ethnic background, disabilities need not be mentioned at all unless they are relevant to the story.
- Be sensitive.
- people with hearing impairments (instead of the deaf), people with disabilities (instead of disabled or handicapped), a person with AIDS (instead of a victim of AIDS), a gay person (instead of homosexual), wheelchair-user (instead of wheelchair-bound).
