The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication is requiring students to take a course on “Diversity and Civility” before they can receive a degree from the top journalism school.
[RELATED: UMaine Law Professor Can’t Say Whether U.S. Bill of Rights Limits Federal Government or Citizens…]
“Diversity and Civility at Cronkite Emphasizes the importance of diversity, inclusion, equity and civility to ensure all Cronkite students feel represented, valued and supported. Offers training and awareness on cultural sensitivities, civil discourse, bias awareness and diversity initiatives at the Cronkite School and ASU,” says the Cronkite School.
The Cronkite School, as a part of the Arizona State University (ASU) is state-funded, but nevertheless requires students to submit to the left-wing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programming.
The requirement was uncovered by the Goldwater Institute, a conservative policy research and litigation organization, which showed that students will be required to study “cisgender privilege,” “macro level microaggressions,” and will need to develop a hypothetical public relations strategy for a pop-star who uses they/them pronouns.
Curriculum includes a reading which presents students with a list of “microaggressions” to be avoided, including asking an Asian student to help with math homework, asking someone where they are from, expressing the belief that the best suited person for a job should get that job, or, as a white student, denying their own innate racism.
Students were also forced to read numerous radical DEI based articles telling them about the various unearned privileges of being “cisgender.”
During the “sexuality and gender” unit, the journalism students were required to lay out rules to prepare journalists to speak to a non-binary identifying pop star.
By making the course mandatory, the state funded school is forcing students to spend thousands of dollars learning about DEI principles instead of studying journalism for their journalism degrees.
The taxpayer funded University of Maine (UMaine) has also seen a rise in DEI-themed programming.
Unlike the Cronkite School, UMaine students are able to graduate without taking DEI classes, but the school does offer those classes as options which count towards core requirements.
Students can take classes on “Authorizing Women’s Sexualities,” “Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Studies,” “Disability as Diversity,” and “Ethnic Conflict.”
The university also offers a program in its Diversity Leadership Institute where students can spend a full year assessing “their perceptions about themselves and others with regard to differences,” and analyzing “the concepts of discrimination, racism, privilege, prejudice, and stereotyping.”
In 2020, U-Maine’s president Joan Ferrini-Mundy established a 30-member council on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, meant to advise the school’s leadership.
Shove your DEI up your A**
It’s nothing more than a mental disorder.
The Cronk was always a “pinko.”
Progressives have never been able to just treat everyone the same. They need to pit people against one another. Everyone knows the biggest group of people who discriminate are democrats, always have been, always will.
A program guaranteed to lower standards because lefties are racist and think minorities aren’t smart enough in a graduate program for a dying industry.
Sounds like a giant waste of time and big money for a degree.
There are other schoolsfor journalism – just say “NO” and this too shall fade away.
What a ridiculous waste of the students time and money. No one would take the course if it wasn’t mandatory.