UC Santa Barbara offers white privilege, microaggressions workshops
The University of California, Santa Barbara’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion provides ongoing workshops on 'anti-racism' as part of its commitment to 'social justice.'
Workshops include learning about microaggressions, white privilege, and the meaning of anti-racism.
The University of California, Santa Barbara’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion provides ongoing workshops on “anti-racism” as part of its commitment to “social justice.”
Workshops include learning about microaggressions, white privilege, and the meaning of anti-racism, with each workshop being a prerequisite for the attending the next.
The workshop description for “(Racial) Microaggressions” defines microaggressions as “the enacted form of Implicit Biases.”
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“We will explore the internal dilemma victims experience; the types of racial microaggressions; their hidden messages; offenders’ typical responses and stated intent; the impact on injured party; and what one can do to mitigate the offenses,” the description continues.
During the workshop, participants are asked to recall an experience of a microaggression in their life and discover what “the hidden message” behind the microaggression was.
The next workshop UC Santa Barbara offers is titled “Power & (White) Privilege,” wherein participants learn about wealth distribution, generational advantage, and how “white culture is seen as ‘the normal,’” and so white people are “granted ‘the benefit of the doubt.’”
The workshop ends “with a working definition of racism.”
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The third workshop in the series, titled “What Does it mean to be an Anti-Racist,” attempts to get participants to understand the difference “between being an ally versus a co-conspirator.”
The university also mentions that participants in this workshop “must be prepared to discuss in a ‘brave space.’”
California State University San Marcos defines a “brave space” as a place where someone “may say something that results in unintentional offense and hurt feelings for those around.”
In order to participate in UC Santa Barbara DEI workshops, it is also necessary to view a series of “implicit bias” videos made by UCLA.
Campus Reform contacted UC Santa Barbara media relations and the university’s DEI Office for comment. This story will be updated accordingly.
