'Transgender accent' researcher receives thousands of dollars in grant money from City University of New York



The City University of New York pumped $6,000 into a linguistics study with the intent to determine whether or not transgender or non-binary individuals speak or write with a "transgender accent."

The research grant was provided to Theodore Manning, who describes himself as a "Linguist, Grad Student," and "Menace," using the pronouns "hän/hänet/hänen," which are Finnish.

According to YAF, the researcher has been asked by the University of Colorado Boulder to present the findings of the 16-month investigation.

Manning's research reportedly involved contacting nearly 100 "transgender and non-binary people" to request that respondents participate in the study called "MapLemon."

The demographic study is steeped in identity politics and stated that the data from "minority backgrounds" is analyzed by "people from those same backgrounds, so that the data is properly handled and understood."

The study authors claim that their methodology is a concept that is a response to outcry from "Queer communities and Native American communities" and could help prove "prevalent Queer Theory ideas" including the field of "Trans Linguistics."

The study's activity has participants write and verbally communicate directions for a fictional character named "Chad LemonLover" to a get a fictional lemonade stand. Then, participants were asked to provide "detailed instructions for making lemonade."

The participants are then asked to fill out a questionnaire that includes age, gender identity, "sex assigned at birth," race, languages used, and more.

The data provided is allegedly used to "better understand the effects that educational, cultural, regional, and socioeconomic background" have on a respondent's answers.

Participants were given $5 for their participation. Manning reportedly collaborated with graduate students at Harvard, Duquesne, and the University of Pittsburgh to analyze the responses.

The study claimed that the writing results from "Transgender Men (FTM) and Transgender Women (MTF)" seemed to be indicative of a "transgender accent."

It also determined "cisgender men" and "masculinity" to be the most "'exclusive' gender presentation."

The University of Colorado Boulder stated that the study's findings have included "groundbreaking" discoveries "about the possibility of a transgender accent."

It also claimed that the study yielded results that lend to the suggestion that transgender and non-binary people "write most similarly to their gender as opposed to their sex assigned at birth."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

White dean of law school cancels herself for saying she's a 'slaveholder' during faculty meeting



The dean of the City University of New York School of Law said she's retiring as soon as possible because she referred to herself as a "slaveholder" during a faculty meeting last fall, the New York Post reported.

What are the details?

Mary Lu Bilek, 65, said at the beginning of the year she would step down in June — but on Saturday she revealed the reason why in an email to the college community, the paper said.

During a personnel committee meeting in November about an open position for associate dean, Bilek used the word "slaveholder" as a way of taking the blame for a hiring proposal some colleagues thought would have a "disparate racial impact," the Daily News reported.

"In a misguided effort to draw an analogy to a model of reparations in order to place blame on myself, as Dean, for racial inequities at our school, I thoughtlessly referred to myself as the 'slaveholder' who should be held responsible," Bilek wrote, according to the paper.

"I realized it was wrong the minute I heard myself say it, and couldn't believe the word had come out of my mouth," she also noted, the Daily News said.

Bilek added that she apologized immediately at the meeting "and have since apologized without reservation to the faculty," the paper said.

"I am still shocked at what I said and have begun education and counseling to uncover and overcome my biases and further understand the history and consequences of systemic and institutional racism," Bilek also wrote, according to the Daily News.

More from the paper:

BIlek, a Harvard Law School grad, first joined the faculty in 1985 and was later associate dean for academic affairs. She was named dean in 2016.

She wrote that she ultimately decided to retire "because the work it would take to repair the trust necessary to lead the Law School is a burden I don't want to impose on the faculty or the community."

Bilek said she urged CUNY to appoint an interim dean "as quickly as possible so that I can step aside as Dean even sooner" than she planned to leave.

Bilek did not return messages for comment.

Anything else?

Also last fall, Reason said Bilek came to the defense of a student who threatened to set on fire another student's Israeli Defense Forces sweatshirt — which the student was wearing at the time. Even though the threatening student was wielding a cigarette lighter during the incident and stated, "F*** Israel. Free Palestine" in subsequent social media post, Bilek said the student was merely expressing an opinion, Reason added.

Bilek's CUNY faculty page says she's credited with "spearheading programs that increased the diversity of the Law School and the profession, and supporting the development of programs to address the justice gap." The page also said she's chaired the Section on Legal Education Diversity Committee, has served on the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission and the National Center for Economic Justice, and is a member of the NYC Bar's Committee to Enhance Diversity in the Profession.

(H/T: The College Fix)