The College Fix

Attendees will learn about ‘liberatory conditions where whiteness has been eradicated’

California State University East Bay faculty members can earn $1,200 if they take professional development courses on anti-racism this summer and continue to work on their projects through the school year.

The stipends go to professors and instructors who attend the “Anti-Racist Liberatory Pedagogy Academy” this July.

The brochure from Professor G.T. Reyes said that CRT IS “a race-conscious framework that examines the ways that whiteness is normalized in our country and in our University.”

“Critical Race Theory takes an intersectional approach to interrogating race and racism in the United States,” the info sheet also said. Professor Reyes did not respond to a June 23 email that asked for a definition of “whiteness” and how many professors were enrolled.

Participants will confront the question of how they can “also aim towards liberatory conditions where whiteness has been eradicated.”

“Participants will receive a $600 participant stipend for completion of the summer portion and a second $600 stipend for the completion of the follow up work through the Spring semester,” Professor Michael Lee wrote in a May promotional email reviewed by The College Fix.

Lee, a committee member for the seminar, did not respond to two emails sent in the past four weeks asking for explanation on “whiteness” and for further information.

Participants will learn to incorporate anti-racism into their classes

Attendees at the workshops will learn how to “incorporate anti-racist and culturally responsive components and approaches” into at least one syllabus for the fall semester.

Professors will develop their courses in a way “designed to meet anti-racism objectives and promote inclusive and equitable learning.”

Faculty at the university, according to the brochure, have a “sacred” duty to learn about these topics.

“We hold the sacred responsibility to support the growth and nurturing of the human
Condition,” the brochure said. “We cannot take that responsibility lightly or for granted, especially as the continuous physical, psychological, and intellectual assaults on our collective humanity persist to heights that some of us, particularly our students, have never seen before.”

The program will “provide a minimum of 15 faculty members…with a paid summer professional development opportunity.” Participants will be able “to augment teaching skills and materials to enhance their abilities to provide learning experiences to students.”

Successful completion of the program will help instructors teach in a way that is “culturally sustaining and based on an anti-racism approach.”

Professor Kim Geron, another professor on the committee for this academy, also did not respond to requests for comment from The Fix.

The College Fix emailed Geron twice in the past month to ask if there had been widespread cases of racism in the attitudes of professors or their teaching styles that would warrant this program.

The July sessions will include five sessions centered around critical race theory and anti-racism.

Sessions will include “Deepening our understanding of Critical Race Theory and Critical Pedagogies,” “Interrupting racism in the University,” “Developing an equity-minded lens to critically self-reflect on your teaching/courses” and “Designing an anti-racist course that is values-directed, sociohistorically-grounded, and higher purpose-driven.”

One inspiration for students could be a Black Panther criminal, the directors of the workshops suggested.

“In her autobiography, Assata Shakur reminds us that the more we get used to our oppression, the more our tolerance for it grows,” the brochure said.

Shakur is a convicted cop-killer who broke out of jail and fled to Cuba.

MORE: Progressive educators dumb down education in the name of antiracism

IMAGES: Alexander Mills/Unsplash; CSU East Bay

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