Kansas State University is embroiled in controversy over its longstanding slogan, “Every Man A Wildcat” (abbreviated EMAW). Some students want to change the line to “Every Person A Wildcat” — and traditionalists aren’t happy.
Back in 2009, then-student Beth Mendenhall wrote an editorial in the Kansas State Collegian arguing that “‘Every Man a Wildcat’ is frequently used as an expression of school pride, but its sexist undertones make it an inadequate and counterproductive reflection of how much we and our university rock. It’s my contention that ‘Every Person a Wildcat’ would be a better slogan.” She explained*,
This type of linguistic sexism matters, because it perpetuates the invisible, widely-accepted notion that “man” (as in “mankind”), encompasses both men and women. This is the Adam and Eve notion of sex and gender –- women are a derivative of men, just a rib. All the concrete examples of institutional sexism (workplace discrimination, decades without suffrage, etc.) were justified implicitly or explicitly by this mindset. Language is a reflection of reality –- we describe things the way we think they are, and we act based on these assumptions. If “Every Man a Wildcat” is supposed to mean every K-State student, why would we choose a gendered term when we could easily be gender-neutral?
After the column was published, Mendenhall says “everyone freaked out.” And argument continues. At Saturday’s football game against Kent State, the marching band didn’t do their tradition EMAW formation. Band director Frank Tracz told the Collegian,
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