mandatory racial equity class at SUNY

[Langue_doc]

SUNY makes new racial equity class mandatory for graduation at all schools

https://dnyuz.com/2023/01/31/suny-makes-new-racial-equity-class-mandatory-for-graduation-at-all-schools/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11699559/SUNY-forces-freshmen-pass-new-Diversity-Equity-Inclusion-Social-Justice-class.html

[marshwiggle]

SUNY makes new racial equity class mandatory for graduation at all schools

https://dnyuz.com/2023/01/31/suny-makes-new-racial-equity-class-mandatory-for-graduation-at-all-schools/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11699559/SUNY-forces-freshmen-pass-new-Diversity-Equity-Inclusion-Social-Justice-class.html

Students would also study the 'creation and perpetuation of the dynamics of power, privilege, oppression and opportunity,' in the US.

Because that's not at all subjective or open to interpretation......

[dismalist]

Required course in neo-marxism with race and gender substituting for class. All of history is the history of struggle between races. All of history is the history of struggle between genders.

Hell, I could teach the course!

[ciao_yall]

Required course in neo-marxism with race and gender substituting for class. All of history is the history of struggle between races. All of history is the history of struggle between genders.

Hell, I could teach the course!

That could be interesting.

[Wahoo Redux]

Required course in neo-marxism with race and gender substituting for class. All of history is the history of struggle between races. All of history is the history of struggle between genders.

Hell, I could teach the course!

That could be interesting.

The student evals would be interesting, that's for sure.

[financeguy]

And yet people wonder how Trump, MTG, and the like are able to attract supporters. Once you account for the crazy, some just hate this more than they hate them.

[downer]

So one GE course has now to meet a diversity requirement at SUNY. It doesn't have to be the whole point of the course, just ticking a box. The requirements seem pretty mild to me. And not unreasonable.

[apl68]

Meanwhile, I notice elsewhere in the news that the College Board its AP Curriculum for African-American Studies in an effort to keep states from banning it for teaching CRT.  Our own new governor lost no time in letting them know that the course was under scrutiny, although she hasn't announced any plans to ban it.

[dismalist]

So one GE course has now to meet a diversity requirement at SUNY. It doesn't have to be the whole point of the course, just ticking a box. The requirements seem pretty mild to me. And not unreasonable.

Not so. Terrible even if it were so.

"Since students need to complete courses prior to transfer or graduation, it is our recommendation that DEISJ content be housed in a single course," the document says.

The guidance says DEISJ will be embedded across many courses and programs and "most campuses will need to make significant changes to existing curriculum to have courses that fulfill the DEISJ learning outcomes."

One required course in neo-marxism amounts to state sponsored religious training. Moreover, the neo-marxism is to permeate curricula.

None of this would matter if there were real competition among the 3000 - 4000 colleges and universities in the US. Competition is the guarantor of academic freedom, not tenure. But colleges and universities are all dependent on governments for funding. So, they go with the flow, following laws, of course, but also mere insinuations from governments.

The only instrument left by which competition can operate at all is through state policies. Thus the California system requires DEI statements from new faculty. That's one hell of a lot of colleges and universities! Looks like the only way this can be resisted is by states like Florida making different rules. This way states will be competing with each other. 'Twould be better for individual institutions to do so. But it's better than nothing.

As neo-marxism permeates curricula, quality will disappear. It won't matter in many fields, but think of the neo-marxist trained doctor. That would contribute to equality of outcome! But in the end, these policies will be overturned in enough places to preserve learning, inquiry, and sanity.

[secundem_artem]

I read the article and was surprised to find that apparently Artem U also has such a requirement.  There are ~ 15 courses that qualify for the requirement.  All are taught by the usual suspects.

I had no idea.  I shall report back once my uni has become an oasis of peace, tranquility, love, and anti-racists in every classroom, dorm, and lab.

The usual academic approach.  We want to do something?  Create a new course requirement because it's the only tool we have.  The academic version of if all you have is a hammer.....

[downer]

SUNY is an unruly beast and you can bet that each campus is going to interpret the instructions as it wants. Recommendations are not requirements.

I'm not sure what "neo-marxism" refers to (aside from being a placeholder for "ideas I do not like"). There's nothing very marxist or neo-marxist about these requirements. They are much more to do with identity politics beloved by feminism and other neo-liberal approaches. Doubtless many instructors will spell out oppression in terms of "micro-aggressions" rather than the "dehumanization by captialism" with a solid class analysis that I'd prefer. I don't see anything here about the US caste system.

[dismalist]

SUNY is an unruly beast and you can bet that each campus is going to interpret the instructions as it wants. Recommendations are not requirements.

I'm not sure what "neo-marxism" refers to (aside from being a placeholder for "ideas I do not like"). There's nothing very marxist or neo-marxist about these requirements. They are much more to do with identity politics beloved by feminism and other neo-liberal approaches. Doubtless many instructors will spell out oppression in terms of "micro-aggressions" rather than the "dehumanization by captialism" with a solid class analysis that I'd prefer. I don't see anything here about the US caste system.

I hope SUNY is an unruly beast! Recommendations are nudges. There is funding at the end.

Marxism is about class conflict. Today's flavor of neo-marxism is about race conflict, as it was earlier in the 20th century, and/or gender conflict, which is already in the Manifesto. Now I could easily bring in my spiel about surplus value.  It's the same for all these cases of exploitation -- the capitalists stealing from the proletariat, the whites stealing from the blacks, and men stealing from women.

I'd prefer a class analysis to this identity coalition politics, too! But it doesn't make Marxism correct. Its microeconomics is broadly correct for a slave society. But we don't live in a slave society, so the theory of exploitation must be wrong. No, there's nothing here about the US caste system, whatever that may be. In fact, there's nothing there about any feature of reality.

When I interview for teaching the course, I'll formulate all this differently. :-)

[downer]

Maybe we should apply to team teach this one, D. It will be an intellectual feast.

I will of course be arguing that slavery is alive and well in the 21st century. Throw some Foucault in there.

[dismalist]

Maybe we should apply to team teach this one, D. It will be an intellectual feast.

I will of course be arguing that slavery is alive and well in the 21st century. Throw some Foucault in there.

Shall we team teach armed or unarmed? :-)

Cheers.

[downer]

Maybe we should apply to team teach this one, D. It will be an intellectual feast.

I will of course be arguing that slavery is alive and well in the 21st century. Throw some Foucault in there.

Shall we team teach armed or unarmed? :-)

Cheers.

I would say that I'm a lover, not a fighter. But actually, I know myself well enough. Put a gun in my hands and I'm going to start shooting people. So better unarmed.