CSU hires counselor to deal with ‘racial battle fatigue'
Colorado State University’s administration has agreed to provide counseling for students who may be struggling with “racial battle fatigue.”
The school announced in a Monday press release that it would comply with a set of year-old recommendations, or demands, that called for “increased funding resources for mental health issues specifically dealing with racial oppression and racial battle fatigue.”
Indeed, the press release notes that the school’s “Counseling Center hired a psychologist whose specialty is working with racial battle fatigue for students of color on predominantly white campuses.”
Still, though, while the school’s vice president for student affairs, Blanche Hughes, called the hiring “a great step,” she argued that “we still have a lot of work to do.”
[RELATED: Schools offer counseling to help students process Trump win]
“Our plan over the next few years is to continue to increase staff and programming where needed to meet the needs of students and the university,” she added.
Additionally, CSU’s administration indicated that it has started work on a “curriculum change” that would “require Introduction to Ethnic Studies and Introduction to Women Studies to be taken by all students.”
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), however, notes that CSU currently doesn’t even require students to complete any literature, foreign language, U.S. history, or economic courses, instead requiring only a math, science, and composition course for graduation.
Nonetheless, the press release explains that CSU’s University Curriculum Committee “began an inventory of the entire course catalog to come up with a set of existing courses that might already address diversity and inclusion in the way intended,” noting that the committee met this spring to “discuss how to meet this recommendation in a way that could provide more than just the introduction of a new course or courses.”
[RELATED: Michigan college drops math, considers diversity course instead]
“While we’ve made some short-term progress, we will continue to work on a long-term solution that focuses on integrating learning objectives related to diversity and inclusion throughout the curriculum,” Faculty Council Chair Mary Stromberger said.
The set of six recommendations was initially submitted to CSU’s administration last year after a student protest group held a “Stand with Mizzou” demonstration on campus, which was attended by the school’s president.
[RELATED: MAP: ‘Stand with Mizzou’ protests spread throughout country]
“The students pointed out some areas for improvement that made good sense for the university and that are very much in line with our commitment to do better in supporting and advocating for diversity and inclusion at CSU,” CSU President Tony Frank said in the press release. “These recommendations have been a touchstone for us this past year as we’ve looked closely at what we should be doing as an institution—and how to actually get it done.”
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @AGockowski
