EXCLUSIVE: UConn mandates diversity training for all employees
Topics include microaggressions, intersectionality, diversity and equity, stereotypes, bias, prejudice, oppression, and privilege.
Campus Reform obtained materials used by the University of Connecticut for state-mandated workplace diversity training.
Materials recently obtained by Campus Reform reveal that the University of Connecticut (UConn) requires its newly hired employees to complete diversity training.
A copy of the guidelines is below:
DAT Spring 2023 by Campus Reform on Scribd
Newly onboarded employees will have six chances in the upcoming semester to meet the diversity training obligation: on August 16 and 29, September 13 and 25, October 19, and November 13.
Each session is expected to take about three hours to finish, and these training sessions are mandatory by state regulations for all employees within the first six months of being hired.
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A public records request for the materials the university uses for the training was submitted on July 25. UConn’s response to the request included the guidelines posted above along with links to two Youtube videos, one on intersectionality and another on microaggressions.
The university presents the following example to illustrate workplace discrimination:
Other training topics included diversity, equity and inclusion, stereotypes, bias, prejudice, oppression, and privilege.
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The training slides say that the university guarantees fair treatment to everyone while also recognizing and striving to eliminate the “barriers that have prevented the full participation of some groups.”
“The principle of equity acknowledges that there are historically underserved and underrepresented populations and that fairness regarding these unbalanced conditions is needed to assist equality in the provision of effective opportunities to all groups,” it goes on to say:
A 2016 study found that UConn has one of the most left-leaning faculty in the country, with professors who were registered with the Democratic party outnumbering those who were registered Republican party by 13 to 1.
Since February 2000, Connecticut law has required that the training include details such as “training and education concerning the federal and state statutory provisions concerning discrimination and hate crimes directed at protected classes and remedies available to victims of discrimination and hate crimes, standards for working with and serving persons from diverse populations and strategies for addressing differences that may arise from diverse work environments.”
In May, Campus Reform covered the UConn faculty senate voting to require all students to take a course in U.S. Anti-Black Racism.
Campus Reform contacted UConn and the Office of Institutional Equity, but no further comment was obtained.
