CrimsonPhantom
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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.
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09-24-2020 04:09 PM |
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Captain Bearcat
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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.
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09-25-2020 10:40 AM |
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Owl 69/70/75
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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?
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09-25-2020 10:48 AM |
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B_Hawk06
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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.
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09-25-2020 11:17 AM |
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