Obscene: Shutting Down Class Participation Based On Skin Color
Celine Ryan writes at Campus Reform of a flowchart distributed by the University of South Dakota encouraging law students to defer to "minoritzed voices" during class discussions:
A diversity orientation presentation for law students at the University of South Dakota encourages non "minitorized" voices to consider whether or not they are "taking up space" when they contribute to a discussion. This comes just weeks after the South Dakota Board of Regents announced an investigation into the existence of liberal bias in the diversity offices of state schools.The presentation slides obtained by Campus Reform through a Freedom of Information Act request indicate that they were used during the USD law school orientation in 2018. Within the various slides is a flowchart that asks students to assess whether or not they are "taking up space" or "contributing to a space." One slide uses a flowchart to guide students through answering this question by assessing whether or not they are deferring to "minoritized" voices during discussions.
How fucking insulting. My friends and colleagues "of color" are no less in any way than my friends and colleagues who are various shades of pasty.
They can speak up without being infantilized in racist ways by the rest of us.
How many of these students are in South Dakota?
Sounds like somebody's after Federal money and needs to check a box.
Radwaste at August 16, 2019 3:57 AM
It's called progressive stacking and it's been a fairly commonplace of academic practice for some years now. I've read about it in the context of instructors consciously calling on students or answering questions in order of intersectional oppression. Don't know if it's been specifically challenged in court but the practice is clearly a violation of the student's civil rights.
RigelDog at August 16, 2019 5:55 AM
You know, if your students, of whatever stripe, are in an academic environment in which their participation in the class is welcome, they are not oppressed. You don't have to "make up" for society's "institutional racism" by stacking them.
And by doing so, you are denying them the lessons they could learn from their fellow students.
Conan the Grammarian at August 16, 2019 11:15 AM
What could be more racist than assuming POC are incapable of speaking up without this type of patronizing "assistance"?
Jay R at August 16, 2019 12:25 PM
How about this instruction: "be courteous to whoever is speaking. Think about what you have to say and ask yourself if it has already been said, if it is logical, if you can back it up."
The idea that POC on a progressive campus are in any way prevented from speaking is laughable but they have to keep up the pretense of oppression.
cc at August 17, 2019 11:10 AM
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