Columbia University Embraces Wokeness

During our first week of classes, Columbia University’s Office of Multicultural Affairs published a promotion for “Students Exploring Whiteness.” This year-long cohort of discussions and seminars, quickly spotlighted on Columbia’s official social media, is intended to teach white students to critically examine their “whiteness, challenge internalized superiority, and seek humility and vulnerability in shaping and maintaining commitments to anti-racist action.”

A quote from a participant described “Students Exploring Whiteness” as a program for “every White person who claims and/or believes themselves to be liberal, progressive, and a champion for social justice” seeking “to critically engage with whiteness.” The program, geared toward advancing “anti-racism work by white-identified students” by “developing an anti-racist framework and toolkit,” is intended to explore “bias, privilege, systemic oppression, [and] white fragility.” This methodology claims to unload “the burden that many students of color already feel to teach their white peers,” all with the end goal of creating a space for “nourishment and accountability.” An informal survey I performed revealed that, of students who received an invitation to the program, all but one were white; meanwhile, only one non-white student I talked to received an invitation.

About the Author

Tristan Yang

Tristan Yang is currently a senior at Columbia University studying International Relations, American Government, and History.

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During our first week of classes, Columbia University’s Office of Multicultural Affairs published a promotion for “Students Exploring Whiteness.” This year-long cohort of discussions and seminars, quickly spotlighted on Columbia’s official social media, is intended to teach white students to critically examine their “whiteness, challenge internalized superiority, and seek humility and vulnerability in shaping and maintaining commitments to anti-racist action.”

A quote from a participant described “Students Exploring Whiteness” as a program for “every White person who claims and/or believes themselves to be liberal, progressive, and a champion for social justice” seeking “to critically engage with whiteness.” The program, geared toward advancing “anti-racism work by white-identified students” by “developing an anti-racist framework and toolkit,” is intended to explore “bias, privilege, systemic oppression, [and] white fragility.” This methodology claims to unload “the burden that many students of color already feel to teach their white peers,” all with the end goal of creating a space for “nourishment and accountability.” An informal survey I performed revealed that, of students who received an invitation to the program, all but one were white; meanwhile, only one non-white student I talked to received an invitation.