University That Said It Would Only Accept Grad Students Focusing On ‘Black Studies’ Is Now Hiding Requirement But Still Enforcing It

In July, the University of Chicago’s English Department released a faculty statement saying it would only accept “applicants interested in working in and with Black Studies.”

“The English department at the University of Chicago believes that Black Lives Matter, and that the lives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Rayshard Brooks matter, as do thousands of others named and unnamed who have been subject to police violence. As literary scholars, we attend to the histories, atmospheres, and scenes of anti-Black racism and racial violence in the United States and across the world. We are committed to the struggle of Black and Indigenous people, and all racialized and dispossessed people, against inequality and brutality,” the statement read. “For the 2020-2021 graduate admissions cycle, the University of Chicago English Department is accepting only applicants interested in working in and with Black Studies.”