courtesy of Inside Higher Ed

It is, as Wikipedia will tell you, a “highly pejorative term.” But what kind of understanding are we creating when we cannot even talk about the situation without using abstractions? The laughter from the reporters in the press conference and the subsequent erasure of the word and the details by most media outlets suggests that most know there is something wrong with the word. But what exactly it is remains more ambiguous.

A University of Hawaii football coach was recently fined and suspended for using the word “faggot” in a public setting.  But what does the fact that he apparently felt so comfortable using the term say about “jock” culture in America?  And what does it say about athletics vis-a-vis our public higher education system?

Click here to read the rest at insidehighered.com