The College Fix

A supposedly confidential letter from the Black Students United at Cornell given to university president Elizabeth Garrett was “leaked” to the social media site Reddit on Saturday.

“The letter makes a series of demands, insisting that the administration rename the Cornell Plantations and create mandatory coursework for all students on systems of power and privilege, ‘centering [on] the voices of oppressed people,’ among others,” The Cornell Daily Sun reports.

What a surprise – mandatory coursework.

From the article:

The demands listen in the letter are divided into six categories — curriculum, compositional diversity, mental and physical health and wellness, governance, support service and symbols.

The letter also demands the creation of Latino Studies, American Indian Studies and Asian-American studies majors and an increase in black faculty, administrators and staff.

“The University can make no claim to have achieved an ideal compositional diversity when its faculty and administrators continue to be overwhelmingly white,” the letter says.

The letter also stressed the need for more diversity in Gannett’s faculty, requesting the hiring of more psychologists and psychiatrists of color.

“People of color historically have a reason to mistrust professionals,” the letter states. “We believe that there should be qualified psychologist and psychiatrists of color that can sufficiently address the way that racism affects the mental and emotional health and well-being of black students at a predominately white institution.”

A member of the BSU confirmed the letter, but denied that there was any “secret meeting” where it was delivered to President Garrett (as indicated by the title of the Reddit post).

Quite a few anonymous Reddit commenters denounced the letter.

“These demands are ridiculous and exemplify the intellectual fairness and freedom of universities being assaulted by fear mongering activists,” wrote one.

Read the full article.

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