James Madison University pushes Racial Equity Taskforce

James Madison University (JMU) in Virginia is continuing to push a task force seeking to promote racial equity in every facet of the institution. 

The Racial Equity Task Force “recommendations” page lists 53 plans in various states of completion. 

These tasks range from a mobile app for “JMU student communities of color and commuter students to connect them more efficiently to resources and spaces on campus,” to “racial equity training” that will “provide ways the JMU community can become empowered to be vocal allies in the fight for racial equity.”

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One action item by this task force is a glossary of racial equity terms. 

The document associated with this item lists terms that should be used across university resources to keep coordinated definitions. It defines “Privilege” as “[u]nearned social power accorded by the formal and informal institutions of society to ALL members of a dominant group (e.g. white privilege, male privilege, etc.).”

”Privilege is usually invisible to those who have it because we’re taught not to see it, but nevertheless it puts them at an advantage over those who do not have it,” the glossary adds.

Another term defined by the glossary is “Racial Capitalism.”

”If capitalism is intended to maximize profit, its operation inherently divides workers and extracts labor from communities of color, including enslaved people, Indigenous people, and immigrants,” the document reads. 

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It continues, ”So if you think of capitalism as racial capitalism, then the outcome is you cannot eliminate capitalism, overthrow it, without the complete destruction of white supremacy.”

Campus Reform contacted the JMU’s media relations department, JMU’s President, and the Racial Equity Task Force for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.