Northern Illinois hosts equity workshops this semester
Northern Illinois University plans to host workshops covering ‘racial battle fatigue,’ along with other social justice topics this spring.
One expert calls the planned events ‘Maoist reeducation [programs].’
Northern Illinois University (NIU) will host a slate of social justice-oriented workshops this semester, dealing with topics such as equity, white fragility, and “racial battle fatigue.” The planned workshops are part of an initiative called “Faculty Academy for Cultural Competence and Equity” (FACCE).
One session, scheduled for April 7, is entitled “Working Through and with our Implicit Biases.” The description reads, “We hear another news story about police being called on a person of color for no reason, and we react with disgust. And yet, despite this collective disgust, these incidents continue to happen.”
“Participants will be able to recognize when their own and others’ behaviors are rooted in implicit biases, acknowledge their own hidden biases, and develop processes for reflecting on and addressing biases,” the description continues.
In another session, “A Framework for Multicultural Teaching and Critical Assessment,” “Participants will be provided a framework to understand multicultural education with the goal of providing clarity to the issues and what a teacher can do inside their own classroom.”
Mathematician, critic of radical leftist ideology, and “Cynical Theories“ author James Lindsay told Campus Reform that the program is rooted in “Marxism, particularly Critical Marxism applied to race.”
“Workshops of this kind are a Maoist reeducation program,” he emphasized.
According to the NIU website, FACCE is an initiative focusing on “access, equity, and inclusion.” Through the program, educators explore various topics relating to social justice, including “Decolonization in the classroom,” “Antiracism,” and “Queer and trans inclusion.”
The social justice workshops are similar to programs seen at other universities. In August 2022, Campus Reform reported on a workshop about “power and privilege” held at the University of Ohio. The Ohio event emphasized implicit bias and equity.
[RELATED: Students call out university for its ‘power and privilege’ workshop]
NIU has a history of controversy over issues of political ideology.
In 2020, students called for the removal of the Vice President of the Student Government due to his support of Turning Point USA and law enforcement. In 2022, the university hired a “Director of Social Justice Education” to implement new “signature social justice programs.”
Campus Reform reached out to all relevant parties for comment and will update accordingly.
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