Penn State to remove terms "sophomore" and "freshman" from course descriptions

Penn State University is removing the terms freshman, sophomore, in an effort to rid course descriptions and materials of gendered terms. 

Penn State's Faculty Senate voted on April 27 to approve bill AD84 on Preferred Name and Gender Identity Policy. The recommendations, which were given to the general Senate by the Senate Committee on Curricular Affairs, were made to ensure all materials given to staff and students are inclusive,  according to the student paper The Daily Collegian.  The changes will replace all pronouns in course materials and descriptions with they/them/theirs and use non-gendered terms like student or staff instead. Freshman, sophomore, junior and senior will be replaced with first-year, second-year, third-year, and fourth-year students, to move away from a "typically male-centered world" and rid the college of materials with a strong, male-centric, binary character.