Ivy League tackles mispronounced names to reduce 'harm' and 'anxiety' to students

(Reuters)

In an effort to reduce microaggressions in the classroom, students at Columbia University can now upload a recording of their name so their professor doesn’t mispronounce it.

The Ivy League school in New York said in a statement it hopes “to reduce the anxiety and uncertainty that may occur during the process of introducing yourself or learning new names” through a pilot program called NameCoach.

“Particularly for students of color, insensitive or accidentally offensive remarks by faculty—including the mispronunciation of names—in the classroom have the potential to harm their learning experiences,” the Columbia Spectator reported.

Columbia University is using a tool called "NameCoach" to reduce student microaggressions in the classroom. (Columbia.edu)

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More than 800 students have participated in the program so far which is open to certain Arts and Sciences and Engineering program classes.

One student said she refused to shorten or change her name to make it easier for people in the United States to pronounce it.

“I really want to have my name pronounced the way where I’m from,” Julieta, pronounced “hoo-lee-YA-tah,” Garcia said of her Mexican-American heritage.

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But some students claim it did not appear professors were actually using it. Meanwhile, a professor said only one of his 40 students has used the program.

“I see it as a nice attempt to improve the ability of instructors to pronounce their names correctly,” Core Lecturer Robbie Kubala told the Spectator.