Why “alumni” is not the best word to describe a mixed group of male and female graduates

The Politics of “Alumni”

“Alumni” is a Latin word derived from the Latin verb “alere” meaning “to nourish” or “to bring up.” “Alumnus,” therefore in Latin, is often employed in the description of one who is “nourished” by someone who is not their biological parent. In other words, if you have been raised by parents other than yours, you are an alumnus – a foster child nurtured by foster parents.

The meaning later went on to cover people who have been through intellectual modification (scholarly nourishment) in a school. Alumni then became the word that describes students who have been intellectually nurtured in a university, college, high school, etc. This suggests that you can as well describe yourself as an alumnus of a certain situation that has shaped you immensely. A poverty alumnus is someone who has been tutored by poverty. A love alumnus is a person who gets to understand a lot about the art of love after they have fallen in and out of love severally.

“Alumnus” is the singular form of “alumni.” It is the Latin word for a student who once studied in a school and has now graduated. The word “alumni” is the masculine version. Each time you mention it, know that you are talking about male graduates of a school. The feminine version of that word is “alumna” (singular). The plural form is “alumnae.” So each time you use “alumnae,” know that you are talking about female graduates of a school.

Conventionally, the masculine plural form of “alumnus” is often used to describe both male and female graduates of a school. This is where the confusion sets in for many people who are fully aware of the politics of the gender-fragile world.

The question is: why is “alumnae” not used to describe mixed groups of graduates? Using “alumni” to refer to males and females who have graduated from a school only reinforces gender inequality that continues to take centre stage in gender discourse the world over. If we cannot reach a middle ground on the use of this Latin word, we should just throw it away and use “graduates,” that way, we can easily avoid the gender injustice coating the word “alumni.” After all, “alumni” is a borrowed word, if you cannot use it properly without causing war, return it to where it belongs.

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 I am Joshua Omidire, your percipient writer, brutal headitor, relentless logophile, publisher, and digital marketing expert.

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