REPORT: U Memphis cancels $3k 'social justice' stipends

The University of Memphis was poised to roll out the program through its Eradicating Systemic Racism and Promoting Social Justice Initiative.

The initiative would have paid faculty $3,000 to redesign their syllabi with social justice content.

University of Memphis will no longer pursue its Eradicating Systemic Racism and Promoting Social Justice Initiative. The program would have paid faculty $3,000 to redesign their syllabi with anti-racist and pro-social justice content. 

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee “said the program will not be carried out,” Washington Free Beacon reported on Saturday. 

The university also confirmed with Governor Lee that it will not carry out the initiative, according to the outlet. 

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As Campus Reform previously reported, faculty would have been paid in installments through the summer and the re-designed classes would have first been launched in the Fall 2022 semester. 

The university’s website still hosts a description of the program. 

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”It is a transformative initiative that will involve and impact all major levels of University programming, alumni, regional and national engagement,” the website states. 

The initiative’s leads would have been “Daphene R. McFerren, executive director of the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change, Dr. Karen Weddle-West, vice president of student academic success/director of diversity initiatives, and Linda G. Hall, associate dean of Multicultural Affairs,” according to the university. 

The university did not respond to Campus Reform’s request for comment. 


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