The University of Chicago (UChicago) is offering a course to students titled “The Problem Of Whiteness” during the Spring 2023 semester, according to the school’s course catalog.
The course was originally supposed to on start January 3rd but in response to backlash from students it has been moved to March 20, according to The Washington Times.
The course is being offered under the college’s Critical Race and Ethnic Studies (CRES) program and the description names whiteness as “a conspicuous problem within liberal political discourse” that has “worldmaking (and razing) effects.”
The course will examine material through the lens of critical race theory.
“Critical race theorists have shown that whiteness has long functioned as an ‘unmarked’ racial category, saturating a default surround against which non-white or ‘not quite’ other appear as aberrant,” the description reads. “This saturation has had wide-ranging effects, coloring everything from the consolidation of wealth, power and property to the distribution of environmental health hazards.”
UChicago administration told Campus Reform, “The University works to foster an inclusive climate on campus, so all may participate fully in the distinctive open and questioning environment that has always defined the University of Chicago.”
Campus Reform reached out to UChicago administration, and a student at the University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
Reporting from Campus Reform.
