Students at a university in California were evacuated over a bomb threat after a controversy related to a professor asking students to reveal their gender pronoun preferences for class credit.
KMPH-TV was tipped off about the gender pronoun requirement by a concerned viewer and reached out to the Fresno State professor, but received a snippy response. The outlet indicated that students who revealed their pronoun preference would get credit in the course and those who refused would lose out on the credit.
“I don’t know who you are and why an assignment’s’ structure is of interest to you. You should ask the viewer why this is the viewer’s concern,” responded Professor Ida M. Jones.
The professor had no comment after the station reiterated that it was a news outlet.
On Thursday, officials at the university received a bomb threat via email, and KMPH obtained a copy of the email. The email said that the bombs were placed at the university, as well as the home of the president of the college and the home of the professor.
“The bombs are powerful enough to destroy the buildings, it is imperative you evacuate the student residences so nobody dies,” the note read.
Several buildings were evacuated on Thursday before authorities said the threat was a hoax.
On Friday, college officials sent an email to KMPH confirming that the professor’s action went against their policies on pronouns.
“As part of a class assignment, a professor required students to share information about themselves, including their preferred pronouns. We are confirming whether any student was negatively impacted for choosing not to share their pronouns,” read the statement. “If this was the case, we will work with the impacted student(s) and the department chair to address this matter. Sharing preferred pronouns is optional and a personal choice and we are following up with the faculty member per university policy and procedures.”
They also condemned the bomb threat.
“While we fully support freedom of speech and expression, we condemn in the strongest possible terms, any actions that threaten the safety of our campus community,” the statement concluded.
Fresno State’s motto is “Discovery. Diversity. Distinction.”
Here’s a local news report about the incident:
Fresno State doing damage control after professor’s pronoun requirement leads to bomb threatswww.youtube.com
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