FIRST READING: Saskatchewan professor blogs his way through mandatory anti-racism 'boot camp'
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A University of Saskatchewan law professor provided a unique window into the equity mandates now ubiquitous at Canadian universities by blogging the details of a compulsory anti-racist 'learning journey.'
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The course was officially known as an Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression and Unconscious Bias Faculty Development Session, and is a mandatory requirement of University of Saskatchewan faculty looking to participate in hiring committees.
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An email announcing the program was given the subject line: 'Mandatory unconscious bias and anti-racism training.'
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'The training is intended to further your personal journey of learning and action, regardless of how knowledgeable or experienced you are, so attendance is mandatory irrespective of previous training or academic field of specialization,' faculty were told.
The course materials tell participants that they'll be taught about the 'systemic racism' of the university environment and how they have benefited from unearned racial privileges.
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By session's end, participants are told that they'll be able understand their own 'unconscious bias' and 'reflect on and understand how power, privilege and meritocracy lead to inequities.'
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One of the activities is to fill out a 'power and privilege' wheel. These wheels, prepared and distributed by the Government of Canada, ask users to grade their 'privileges' on everything from mental health to sexuality to skin colour. The most privileged identity, as identified by the wheel, is a white, able-bodied, heterosexual 'colonizer/settler.'
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Michael Plaxton, an expert in criminal law and statutory interpretation, alternately called the course a 'mandatory DEI bootcamp' and a 'forced march of self discovery.' He noted that it began with a declaration of 'we're not here to debate.'
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The course included three readings. The first, White settler colonialism and the myth of meritocracy, was written by Idle No More activist Sheelah McLean, and details how white Saskatchewanians owe their prosperity to '150 years of racist, sexist and homophobic colonial practices.'
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The second was a chapter from the 2022 U.S. book Confronting Institutionalized Racism in Higher Education. The chapter interviews five 'racialized' American university faculty and concludes that the entire system is rigged to benefit white people. 'Racialized faculty are expected to have accomplished more, yet their tenure and promotion files are always scrutinized through certain deficit driven lenses of presumed incompetence,' it reads.
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