EXCLUSIVE: A look inside Spalding University's $150 antiracism training
Spalding University launched a new professional development program centered on “antiracism.”
Targeted toward employees at professional organizations, the course decries the notion of “colorblindness” while encouraging participants to avoid “microaggressions.”
Spalding University announced the launch of a new professional development program centered on “antiracism,” which charges individual participants anywhere from $150-$225
Available to “individuals and groups from public-sector, corporate and nonprofit organizations” across the country, the program, “Restorative Practices for the Antiracist Journey,” will offer a variety of half-day and full-day virtual courses.
Ranging between $150 and $225 in price, those in the workforce can register for “Cultural Humility,” “The Context of Racism,” and “Restorative Practices Understood and Applied.”
Spalding, a Roman Catholic university in Louisville, Kentucky, will provide three tiers of certification badges for those who complete the courses: bronze, silver, and ebony.
Campus Reform obtained access to the course material for “Cultural Humility” from instructor and Spalding University psychology professor DeDe Wohlfarth.
The class decried the notion of “colorblindness,” claiming that it leads to “more microaggressions” that keep the status quo — “privilege” — in place.
“People who profess to being colorblind actually commit more microaggressions than people who admit their biases,” says one slide.
The course defines microaggressions as verbal, behavioral, or environmental “indignities” that may be “intentional or unintentionally” communicated to marginalized groups.
The portion of the class that addressed “privilege” included a BINGO board full of identities — such as “thin,” “Christian,” “attractive,” “able-bodied,” and “support mainstream political party” — that may shield an individual from oppression.
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The presentation includes a slide stating, “when you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.”
One slide showed a picture of an angry, middle-aged White man in a red “Make America Great Again” hat. Another showed a White couple wearing Monster Energy shirts at a sporting event, warning readers to “be aware” of White, straight, male spaces.
National Association of Scholars Director of Research David Randall told Campus Reform that “critical race theory and ‘antiracism’ have already done great damage to academia, by disabling the search for truth; they threaten to do equally great damage to private enterprise, by disabling the search for profit.”
Randall explained that antiracism will “serve to favor the large corporations who can afford ‘antiracism’ pay-offs, at the expense of small businesses.” The export of antiracism from academia to the private sector “will further the dominance of woke oligarchy in America.”
National Association of Scholars Director of Communications Chance Layton added that companies are involving themselves in antiracism only because “it’s popular and it’s cheaper for them to look woke than it is to face a boycott or a public relations scandal.”
Campus Reform reached out to Spalding University for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @BenZeisloft
