From the article: "To be very clear, not only is the use of the term “American” not banned at Stanford, it is absolutely welcomed."

It's pretty clear to me that the above is not a true statement. If the term "American" is/was absolutely welcome, it would not have ended on the "do not use list". You can frame it as "not a ban", but it would not make it "absolutely welcomed".

This is a polite non-apology, non-admission, "sorry we put out something too early that we could not get away with right now, but we will try again soon" statement.