Hello There, Guest! (LoginRegister)

Post Reply 
News University of Chicago makes racial radicalism required
Author Message
CrimsonPhantom Offline
CUSA Curator
*

Posts: 41,344
Joined: Mar 2013
Reputation: 2371
I Root For: NM State
Location:
Post: #1
University of Chicago makes racial radicalism required
Quote:he University of Chicago is recognized for many great achievements. It boasts the renowned Chicago School of Economics and has maintained a principled commitment to free speech by eschewing safe spaces amid an ocean of trigger-happy activist universities. But the latest stunt from fringe proponents of radical pedagogy in the English department threatens the university’s 130-year-old legacy.

The department recently announced that it will only admit students into its 2020-2021 graduate program who are interested in “Black Studies.” Its rationale is the alleged presence of pervasive “anti-Black racism” in America, “police violence,” and its support for the Black Lives Matter movement. The faculty statement reads:

For the 2020-2021 graduate admissions cycle, the University of Chicago English Department is accepting only applicants interested in working in and with Black Studies. We understand Black Studies to be a capacious intellectual project that spans a variety of methodological approaches, fields, geographical areas, languages, and time periods.
Furthermore, the department said, “As literary scholars, we attend to the histories, atmospheres, and scenes of anti-Black racism and racial violence in the United States and across the world ... We are committed to the struggle of Black and Indigenous people, and all racialized and dispossessed people, against inequality and brutality."

The erudite minds among the English faculty have embraced a sole qualification for budding English graduate students. It doesn’t matter how perfect an applicant's prose is or how well-educated he or she is in literary history. If you’re not interested in the particular left-wing gospel the university is focused on evangelizing at this moment, you’re not welcome.

The demand is simple: Get radical or get out. And understandably, backlash has already ensued, with scores of dissenters denouncing the race policy as “indoctrination.”

Critics are right. This ideological crusade is certainly nothing short of paternalistic and anti-intellectual.

The staff of the English department is treating its subjective beliefs as if they are undisputed truth and then herding students like sheep to believe them. Worse, by shutting out students except those focused in one subarea, it is stifling the range of thought in the department.

Surely, the University of Chicago is better than this. This policy is the exact opposite of cultivating diversity. It mandates sameness in the name of progress.

It’s a gut punch to the very spirit of higher education. Adult college students do not need to be told what to study, how to study it, or what to use their studies for. After all, the purpose of education is supposed to be urging students toward deep introspection and away from ignorance, not to browbeat them with a militant political agenda. The department’s political agenda couldn’t be more clear. It's not focused on wide-ranging debate on matters of social import — it's focused on one left-wing narrative.

The department’s website describes Black Studies as the study of “the histories of political struggle, collective action, and protest” that “Black, Indigenous, and other racialized people” have pursued. This does not appear to emphasize the actions of black individuals, but rather groups that have partaken in political struggles. Its collectivist framing is obvious.

Moreover, the Black Studies program provides openly radical workshops such as the anti-capitalist “Race & Capitalism,” which studies the supposed interaction between “white supremacy, patriarchy, and financialized global capitalism.” It appears openly socialist in its bent and conveniently forgets to mention the fact that capitalism has, historically, helped African Americans forge prosperous communities.

It’s clear the department’s vision of “Black Studies” is more sophistry than sanity.

Something tells me that the program is only interested in studying a certain type of black person. What about black students, like me, who believe in individualism and lean right-of-center ideologically?

Maybe some graduate students are interested in left-wing studies wrapped in a racial smokescreen. But a great school such as the University of Chicago shouldn’t make radicalism mandatory.

Link
09-24-2020 04:09 PM
Visit this user's website Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Advertisement


Captain Bearcat Offline
All-American in Everything
*

Posts: 9,478
Joined: Jun 2010
Reputation: 766
I Root For: UC
Location: IL & Cincinnati, USA
Post: #2
RE: University of Chicago makes racial radicalism required
This is a program that admits about 10 students a year.

Graduate programs are very small, and it's easier to teach if all the students in the same year are interested in the same area.

I'm ok with this as long as it's a 1-year thing.
09-25-2020 10:40 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Advertisement


Owl 69/70/75 Offline
Just an old rugby coach
*

Posts: 80,655
Joined: Sep 2005
Reputation: 3192
I Root For: RiceBathChelsea
Location: Montgomery, TX

DonatorsNew Orleans Bowl
Post: #3
RE: University of Chicago makes racial radicalism required
(09-25-2020 10:40 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  I'm ok with this as long as it's a 1-year thing.

What makes you think it will be?
09-25-2020 10:48 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
B_Hawk06 Offline
Moderator
*

Posts: 15,479
Joined: Dec 2014
Reputation: 676
I Root For: UNCW / America
Location:
Post: #4
RE: University of Chicago makes racial radicalism required
Ahhhh yes.

I love it when they openly admit, "Think like us or else!!!"

So progressive. So non-fascist.
09-25-2020 11:17 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Post Reply 




User(s) browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)


Copyright © 2002-2024 Collegiate Sports Nation Bulletin Board System (CSNbbs), All Rights Reserved.
CSNbbs is an independent fan site and is in no way affiliated to the NCAA or any of the schools and conferences it represents.
This site monetizes links. FTC Disclosure.
We allow third-party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain anonymous information when you visit our web site. These companies may use non-personally identifiable information (e.g., click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) during your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or third party web beacon to collect this information. To learn more about this behavioral advertising practice or to opt-out of this type of advertising, you can visit http://www.networkadvertising.org.
Powered By MyBB, © 2002-2024 MyBB Group.