On Wednesday, after George Washington University’s sociology department had published an email publicizing a police recruitment fair where GW students might look for a job, the woman who heads the same department actually apologized for causing “pain and confusion” among students for publicizing the police fair.
As Kara Zupkus of Young America’s Foundation reported, Hiromi Ishizawa, the chair of the sociology department, wrote:
We are writing to you to clarify and apologize for an email that was sent through this listserve last Friday. As you know, we regularly forward emails we receive to share information about internships, jobs, educational events, and other opportunities that other organizations, agencies, businesses, CCAS, GW, students, and/or faculty want to share with our students.
Recently, an email which advertised a police recruitment fair was shared through our listserv. Our routine practice of merely forwarding information hurt many people in this context of national and international focus on police violence and police abuses, especially against Black people …
After noting that the department was not sponsoring the police fair or even associated with the event or the organization putting it on, she added, “We are deeply sorry we caused pain and confusion with this unfortunate mistake as some people understandably got the impression that our Department is hosting this event.”
She continued, “Our Department’s programs and classes provide students with knowledge and analytical tools to understand and improve society, including to research, recognize, and redress systematic inequalities and injustice … Current events have solidified our continued and renewed commitment to challenge ourselves and our students to be part of ending systemic racism, state violence, and other inequities.”
Zupkus noted, “This apology is beyond asinine. As an academic department on campus, GW’s sociology department has an obligation to inform its students of professional career development opportunities. With current national unrest, many students now more than ever may want to consider entering the public safety sector to work and heal the divide between communities. By apologizing for even mentioning a law enforcement job fair, GW’s academics are doing a shameful disservice to its students in a sad attempt to sow division.”
In November 2016, The Hatchet, George Washington University’s newspaper, reported that history majors would no longer have to take courses in American history. The Hatchet noted:
History majors no longer have to take foreign language classes or classes on European, North American and U.S. history and can choose to specialize in a topic or region. The changes allow students to tailor their academic plans to better reflect a globalizing world and its impact on the study of history, faculty said.
Katrin Schultheiss, the chair of the history department, stated, “I think the main gain for students is that they have a great deal more flexibility than they had before, and they can adapt it to whatever their plans are for the future. Whatever they want to do, there’s a way to make the history department work for them.”
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