The College Fix reports that some Northwestern University students “who self-identify as white” have been “undergoing a weekly ‘deconstructing whiteness’ program.” The most striking aspect of the Northwestern program is that it is part of a larger university undertaking called Social Justice Education.
“Students who participate in SJE programs,” its web site announces, “will (or will be able to):
• develop the empathy, self-reflection, and critical thinking skills needed to engage in meaningful dialogue.identify and know how to respond to the needs in the community. [sic]
• identify and know how to respond to the needs in the community.
• articulate the way their social identities impact their engagement with others.
And the most striking thing, in turn, about Northwestern’s Social Justice Education program (complete with an Executive Director and two Assistant Directors) is both how ubiquitous and utterly propagandistic such programs are. Google “social justice education” and you’ll see what I mean.
At the University of Illinois, as part of its Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Relations, “Diversity & Social Justice Education (DiversityEd) offers programs to create transformational education spaces. Through classes, workshops and trainings, DiversityEd works to improve the campus climate and promote critical thinking both within our university community and in the greater society.” Presumably RegularEd at the University of Illinois (my term), as opposed to DiversityEd, does little to develop critical thinking.
Another typical example is the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, which offers an undergraduate concentration as well as masters and doctoral degrees in Social Justice Education. The flavor of these programs is nicely captured in this description from the master’s program:
[Social Justice Education] uses and generates research and theory to understand the sociocultural and historical contexts and dynamics of specific manifestations of oppression and (e.g., ableism, classism, heterosexism, racism, religious oppression, transgender oppression and sexism) and resistance to oppression in social systems. It brings together faculty and students with interests in theories and issues of social diversity and social oppression, inclusion, equity, social justice, critical pedagogy, dialogues across differences, critical service learning, youth empowerment, liberatory consciousness and practice, and research for social justice.
One wonders how much “diversity” and “inclusion” of “difference” regarding the definition of “social justice” such programs tolerate.
Perhaps in the future college and graduate school application forms should insert a “Deconstructed White” race/ethnicity box to reward students who have successfully completed such programs.