Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has officially finished its first year offering a new Queer Studies minor.
According to Cal Poly’s website, by taking the minor, students “learn how constructions, experiences and expressions of sexuality – including the invention of homo/heterosexuality and ab/normality, intimacy, kinship networks and embodiment – change over time and are lived in relation to interlocking systems of race, ethnicity, religion, class, nation, age, dis/ability and gender.”
Launched last October, the minor was intended to effectively create a more diverse atmosphere on Cal Poly’s campus.
“The fact that we see this here at Cal Poly speaks volumes about the commitment of this university to recognize one of the most marginalized groups and to do work around creating understanding, equality and inclusion,” Vice President for Diversity & Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer Jozi DeLeon told Cal Poly News.
A few of the learning objectives listed on Cal Poly’s website for the minor include:
Understand the ways in which constructions, experiences and expressions of sexuality shape and are shaped by social, political, ethical, institutional, economic, legal, cultural, scientific and technological factors in the past and present, with special attention paid to interlocking systems of race, ethnicity, religion, class, nation, age, dis/ability and gender in local, national and transnational contexts.”
Develop the intellectual and practical skills necessary to engage with issues of social justice and serve as leaders in the creation, enactment, and evaluation of efforts to create a more inclusive, just and equitable world.
Understand the ways in which the dynamics of heterosexism and heteronormativity shape and are shaped by social, political, ethical, institutional, economic, legal, cultural, scientific and technological factors in the past and present, with special attention paid to interlocking systems of race, ethnicity, religion, class, nation, age, dis/ability and gender in local, national and transnational contexts.
To complete the Queer Studies minor, there are both required courses and approved electives for students to take, some of which include: the Social Construction of Whiteness, Sexuality and Gender in African American Communities, Sex, Death, and Human Nature, and Gender and Sexuality in Modern Europe.
Vice President and Chief Officer for Diversity and Inclusion Jozi DeLeone, and Jane Lehr, chair of Women’s & Gender Studies, did not respond to several requests from The College Fix for comment.
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