In May, Brown University offered an online teacher-training course in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) that ironically created a lot of stress among the population that was not allowed to take the course: whites and Asians. The course was only offered to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) students, and even to students who did not attend Brown. One anonymous student filed a complaint against the university on May 13 with the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR). According to the complaint, the professors of the class are only those who identify as BIPOC (supporting professors may be white). The student wrote, “Brown is offering a RACE-BASED teacher training program that is ONLY open to certain demographics (black, latino, indigenous).” The anonymous student also pointed out the reality of the situation: “This is a return to educational segregation based on skin color.” The student claims in their complaint that only BIPOC students receive financial aid in the MBSR program, which the student rightly decries as “discriminatory.” The student has decided to unenroll from the MBSR program because of the school’s decision to engage in patent segregation:
As a student of the program, I find myself being unable to continue my training with this institution as I refuse to support educational segregation based solely on skin color as it violates my core principles, values, and the Buddhist teachings that which this program is based on.
Leigh Ann O’Neill, staff attorney for FAIR, sent an email to Brown president Christina Paxson, condemning the race and ethnicity-based aspect of the class as a violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. O’Neill implored the university “to open the program to any deserving student without regard to their immutable traits.” Brown has since decided to open the course, when it is offered again in August, to people of all skin color and ethnicities. Eric B. Loucks, director of the Mindfulness Center at Brown, told the New York Post, “Upon further review of our early promotional materials for the program, we realigned them to reflect the program’s inclusive nature, while still meeting the goal of addressing the needs, life experiences, and priorities of marginalized communities.”
Kudos to this student who pointed out the obvious discrimination and racism being practiced by Brown University. The fact that Brown originally offered this class only to students based on their immutable traits demonstrates the innate problems of wokeness. This situation is one of countless instances that show that higher education is in desperate need of reform. When those on the left bend over backwards to right what they see as inequities or past injustices, and in so doing, create a racist environment without even recognizing it as such, it is a sure sign that they are doing more harm than good. Social justice does not belong in the classroom or anywhere on the college campus.