A New York university will force all incoming freshmen to take a course focused on “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice” — or they won’t graduate.
The members of the SUNY (State University of New York) Board of Trustees have mandated the DEISJ course for all freshmen starting in the fall of 2023.
“This is nuts,” Professor Nicholas Giordano of SUNY’s Suffolk Community College, told The New York Post. “SUNY is one of the best university systems in the country. Why are they doing this? DEISJ is a cultural movement, not based on academics. Unfortunately, SUNY responded to the mob.”
Giordano claimed the DEISJ coursework views the United States as “inherently racist,” while “creating groups and pitting them against each other.” He added that the curriculum wants students “defined by the color of their skin.”
“This is a woke, left-wing agenda,” echoed Conservative Party of New York Chairman Jerry Kassar. “It’s disturbing. It’s dangerous. They’re treating everybody as having prejudice. It’s like a socialist, Communist state. It’s unbelievable. These ideas are best addressed at home.”
The guidance from the University Faculty Senate and the Faculty Council of Community Colleges to Campuses encourages the teaching of the course to consider perspectives from outside America, writing, “One can imagine how theory and criticism rooted outside the United States could help guide faculty and students in addressing and thinking about diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice in the United States.”
But SUNY Chancellor John King countered, “Exposure to, and understanding of, diversity is essential to success in our modern society and economy. As a leader in preparing the future workforce and citizenry, SUNY is committed to embedding diversity into the foundation of all it does – from academics to campus life and everything in between.”
“By recognizing and celebrating our diversity and fostering respectful dialogue and debate, SUNY provides students with the world-class education they deserve,” he added.
In September 2021, The New York State Board of Regents insisted, “Every New York school district will develop and adopt a diversity, equity, and inclusion education policy. … It is the expectation of the NYS Board of Regents that the Department, schools, and districts will implement DEI policies and practices with urgency and fidelity.”
“The Board of Regents will discuss a framework on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for New York State Schools which will serve as the basis for adopting a policy statement,” they added. “With this framework, the Board is ready to address the long history of racism and bigotry, and the corrosive impact they have had on every facet of American life.”