Apparently, the term ‘third world’ is no longer politically correct.

Dante O’Connell of the Brown Daily Herald reported.

Third World Center likely to receive new name

The Third World Center will likely have a new name as early as September 2014, said Mary Almandrez, director of the Third World Center and assistant dean of the College.

The name change was recommended in a program review, which combined results of both a March self-study by the center’s staff members and a report from external consultants specializing in racial diversity and social justice.

Almandrez cited both the program review and results from a fall 2012 poll conducted by the Undergraduate Council of Students as the driving motivators for potentially changing the name. About 46 percent of the student body said the name should be changed, 38 percent expressed no opinion and 16 percent said it should stay the same, according to the poll.

“The majority of people both internal and external favor a name change,” Almandrez said. “Our goals in this process are to preserve the center’s history, honor its legacy, be forward thinking and address the needs of the students today.”

Currently, Brown is the only Ivy League university to have a Third World Center. In 2002, Princeton renamed its Third World Center to the Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding, according to the university website.

Almandrez said no potential names have been determined so far, but any name including the word “multicultural” has been ruled out, noting that students have approached her opposing the use of the term in the center’s name.

“No matter what we choose for the name — it could be the most radical, it could be the most edgy, the most black, whatever — we’re not going to get 100 percent of people happy,” Almandrez said. “What I can guarantee, though, is not your happiness (with the name) but that your voice is valued, and that we want it as part of the discussion.”

The TWC has had the same name since its founding in 1976. According to the center’s website, the term “Third World” “is not to be confused with the economic definition of the term used commonly in our society today, but understood as a term that celebrates diverse cultures.”