Thursday, October 13, 2016

Welcome to the ‘White Identity Retreat’: The Rise in Student Segregation

Welcome to the ‘White Identity Retreat’: The Rise in Student Segregation - The Daily Beast:
"Racial segregation in higher education is not just a topic confined to history classrooms.
After last year’s protests across the country over racial inequality, more universities have warmed to the idea that students should be segregated by race in clubs, diversity initiatives, housing, and conversations about race.
Come November, the University of Vermont will host a three-day “Examining White Identity Retreat” for students who self-identify as white.
The retreat aims to educate students about white privilege, start a dialogue to combat racism at the university, and “conceptualize and articulate whiteness from a personal and systemic lens,” according to the university’s website.
The University of Oregon is planning similar retreats for January 2017, one for white students and one for white faculty members.
Last June, minority students, faculty, and staff at the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s Multicultural Student Center held separate meetings for minority students and white students to discuss the shootings of African-American men in Missouri and Louisiana.
...More new are the efforts to educate white students about white privilege, and the criticism from both minority students and white students of racially segregated programs.
Concordia University, St. Paul’s annual orientation for minorities backfired recently when a student of color took offense to a letter that said all minority students were “expected” to attend.
Another minority student called the orientation “discriminatory.”...

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