Section I

1.1  WHEREAS the University of Oregon Senate has resolved to de-gender the titles used for retired faculty; and

1.2  WHEREAS new terminology is needed that will be clear to the rest of the academy and will be practical given the rules of English grammar; and

1.3  WHEREAS the stem “emerit” is understood in the academy as an honorific that can be added to “professor” and thereby designate continued professorial status; and

1.4  WHEREAS the stem “emerit” makes no reference to gender and is one that can be integrated into English in the same way that “alum” has been integrated into English as an alternative to “alumnus/alumna”; and

1.5  WHEREAS the stem “emerit” can be used as a noun with a de-gendered plural, “emerits,” that is consistent with English grammar, comparable to the increasingly used de-gendered plural “alums.”

Section II

2.1 THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the UO formal policies and official communications (such as university and department websites) will refer to retired faculty as “Professor Emerit” (individual) and “Professors Emerit” (plural) by default; and

2.2. THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that individual faculty shall a) use whatever version of the title they prefer for themselves (e.g. Professor Emerit/Emerita/Emeritus), b) request others to use their preferred title, and c) in such cases, the University may use their preferred term to address or refer to them; and

2.3 THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that when the term “emerit” is used as a noun such that a plural form is necessary, that plural will be “emerits”