The Harvard Crimson is reporting that the current masters of Harvard's residential houses have unanimously decided to change the "house master" name due to the term's association with slavery:
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/12/2/house-masters-change-title/
The article quotes one current master:
"We cannot ignore the fact that the term ‘master’ has a particular salience in our culture given the very real brutal history of slavery. A new term that appreciates the realities of the work we do in the 21st century is much more appropriate."
The article did not address the issue of Harvard's continued awarding of Masters degrees, or whether they would seek to rename those certificates as well. Of course, that might then open up the issue of how appropriate a "bachelor" degree is, since the term is associated with unmarried men. In addition, science majors might find the common degree abbreviation "BS" as disrespectful to their academic achievements.
↧