Video Games Hangouts
EtcetEra Hangouts
Trending

Boise State University cancels gen ed courses impacting 1300 students mid-semester over "social justice" issues

Dr. Monkey

Dr. Monkey

Mafia MVP
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,962
Boise State cancels 50-plus diversity classes after claims student was ‘degraded’ for beliefs

Boise State University announced Tuesday it was canceling several core curriculum classes after allegations that at least one student was “degraded” for their beliefs in class.

The cancellation affects roughly 1,300 students in 52 sections of UF 200: Foundations of Ethics and Diversity, according to the university.

“We have been made aware of a series of concerns, culminating in allegations that a student or students have been humiliated and degraded in class on our campus for their beliefs and values,” the university said in a written statement provided to the Idaho Statesman. “Effective immediately, we must suspend UF 200.”
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The university will be working with UF 200 students to make sure they can complete the class over the next week, according to the statement. All students in those courses also will be asked to complete midterm evaluations of their respective UF 200 courses. Professional development sessions for faculty on “fostering learning environments characterized by mutual respect” also will be offered at a future date.

Earlier this month, the Idaho Legislature moved more than $400,000 from Boise State’s budget to Lewis-Clark State College, according to Idaho Education News. Lawmakers specifically cited concerns the university was using taxpayer dollars to pursue a social justice agenda. Other lawmakers like Rep. Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird, and conservative organizations like the Idaho Freedom Foundation have called for even more cuts.

Boise State officials encouraged students to report any complaints or concerns about instructor bias. Students can file an academic grievance that would trigger a review under Boise State Policy 3140, report bias based on a protected class to Institutional Compliance that would trigger an investigation under Boise State’s Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy or submit a CARE report that would initiate a review of the complaint by the dean of students. Students can report concerns anonymously through Boise State’s Compliance Reporting Hotline.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
There is a LOT more to this that's being discussed on Twitter, but I will not embed those tweets here as it can put already at-risk people more in the spotlight, so instead will summarize:

1. I do not know what happened in the class, but from what I'm hearing from profs in my network who are at Boise State, this was a discussion about white privilege and a white student got upset. I expect some details will come out.
2. The Idaho legislature has long been after the university, trying to get curriculum information, interfering, moving funds, etc. (Some of this again is UNofficial, and some - funding - is on record.)
3. Right now, a lot of people on the ground at Boise State are feeling pretty concerned. There were some tweets about this that have already disappeared and now a lot are no longer public. It's concerning that people feel like they need to cover up their reactions.

What's happening at Boise State right now is extreme, but it's not the first time we've seen this and it won't be the last.
 
GoldenEye 007

GoldenEye 007

Roll Tide, Y'all!
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,837
Texas
Another instance of the GOP actually being the thought police and using their power to censor discussion. Going to be an ugly time for higher ed and academic freedom in deep red states.
 
Rag

Rag

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,760
Idaho has been on a roll lately. I'm so glad I haven't been anywhere near a classroom in the Trump/Post Trump Era.
 
PaperSparrow

PaperSparrow

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
761
Shouldn't be understated how important these classes and universities are to opening up the minds of kids stuck in a red state feedback loop. The GOP always knew this was the case but to so openly shut it down in our current environment is unsettling. The in-state schools are often all these kids can afford.
 
colorblindmode

colorblindmode

Chicken Chaser
Member
Nov 26, 2019
2,388
South Carolina
Rag said:
Idaho has been on a roll lately. I'm so glad I haven't been anywhere near a classroom in the Trump/Post Trump Era.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Weirdly enough, I’m doing some continuing education for another BSEd at a university in North Dakota and it has been excellent. There have been many discussions about white privilege and the school to prison pipeline. And this is North Dakota.
 
JaseC64

JaseC64

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,356
Strong Island NY
I think I would off myself if I were to grow up in a red state, public school and/or college as a minority. Jesus man.

I couldn't deal with Trumpers at my old job saying shot about Dems 24/7 and that was with Trump around. I can only imagine these groups becoming more unhinged and "sensitive " to criticism.
 

Deleted member 1086

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,796
Boise Area, Idaho
also coincidentally really poor timing to do this with what is happening in Atlanta right now. There’s really no more prescient time to be having these discussions than right now.
 
Maolfunction

Maolfunction

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,762
No way this was done in good faith. During a period of history where it's absolutely crucial students learn these things and Boise State is out here making sure the feelings of white supremacists (if what I saw on Twitter is accurate) are protected above everything else.

Don't know how the school thinks any minority group will trust them when they inevitably release a statement about inclusion.
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
Dr. Monkey

Dr. Monkey

Mafia MVP
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,962
Squarehard said:
Racist student upset that they were made to feel like a racist for having racist views.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Razmos said:
Of course it's an offended white person
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I don't know for sure... but that's what I heard from people I trust in my broader faculty circles. (And it tracks with everything.)

And I'll tell you this: there are a hell of a lot of students who get hurt, degraded, and flat-out brutalized in classes all the time, often by professors, and programs aren't getting canceled, whole courses not wrapped in a week, etc. But here? Sure, impact 1300 students because someone felt bad about white privilege.

We NEED to feel bad. We grow when we hurt, when we reflect, when we think, when we are confronted.
 
Almighty

Almighty

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,573
For whatever reason Idaho's crazy seems to go unnoticed, but it's there big time. I guess its neighbor to the southeast gets all the attention.
 
Rag

Rag

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,760
colorblindmode said:
Weirdly enough, I’m doing some continuing education for another BSEd at a university in North Dakota and it has been excellent. There have been many discussions about white privilege and the school to prison pipeline. And this is North Dakota.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Nice! That's good to hear. I really enjoyed my time at Boise State back in the day. I do want to get back and finish my degree at some point.
Ponyboy said:
This state has really put it into overdrive to try and be the worst state it can be lately it’s mind boggling
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
For sure. I know just a week ago I was having a meltdown over everyone shitting on the state, but we're earning it one news story at a time. I keep hoping the fever will break.
 
Razmos

Razmos

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 28, 2017
10,298
piratepwnsninja said:
I mean, is there really any doubt this is related to white fragility and privilege?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I think its a safe bet, if a minority had found it offensive they would have been laughed out the class and told to "suck it up snowflake". The only outrage that would warrant this kind of response is white outrage
 
Kraid

Kraid

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,656
Cuck Zone
colorblindmode said:
Weirdly enough, I’m doing some continuing education for another BSEd at a university in North Dakota and it has been excellent. There have been many discussions about white privilege and the school to prison pipeline. And this is North Dakota.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I finished my undergrad at NDSU online in 2016, and mostly had good experiences. The only bad experience I had was actually with a relative lmao.
 
colorblindmode

colorblindmode

Chicken Chaser
Member
Nov 26, 2019
2,388
South Carolina
Kraid said:
I finished my undergrad at NDSU online in 2016, and mostly had good experiences. The only bad experience I had was actually with a relative lmao.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yeah, NDSU online has been excellent, honestly. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the discussions and how, even compared to when I finished my first undergrad, there is more focus on “the statistics show minority students, especially black students, are being held back systemically. How do we fix it so these students have the same education and equal footing?” For a North Dakota school, it floored me lol
 
OP
OP
Dr. Monkey

Dr. Monkey

Mafia MVP
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,962
piratepwnsninja said:
I mean, is there really any doubt this is related to white fragility and privilege?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Razmos said:
I think its a safe bet, if a minority had found it offensive they would have been laughed out the class and told to "suck it up snowflake". The only outrage that would warrant this kind of response is white outrage
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Exactly.

In my approximately 230953 years of school, I saw it over and over again, from microaggressions to flat out aggressions and never have I seen real action to do anything... until it's something like this. It's always something like this. I did my masters and PhD at a very conservative midwestern R1 with a loudly GOP president who made it even worse and we had literal Nazi propaganda on campus and he shrugged it off.

I've been lucky so far. With teaching as a grad student and then as a professor, I've been in the classroom for a decade and as someone who teaches rhetoric - and never shies from discussing it as an embodied, experiential study - we do a lot of work on racism and diversity and these days I feel like I'm always just waiting for the thread to snap and the sword to fall. But I can't NOT talk about positionality and perspective with rhetoric. I would be doing my students a disservice.
 
Lebon30

Lebon30

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,172
Canada
Dr. Monkey said:
1. I do not know what happened in the class, but from what I'm hearing from profs in my network who are at Boise State, this was a discussion about white privilege and a white student got upset. I expect some details will come out.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
oooOOOoooHHHhhh snowflake got hurt!
How am I not surprised? Us, whites, are a fucking problem in this world. Really.
 
Kraid

Kraid

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,656
Cuck Zone
colorblindmode said:
Yeah, NDSU online has been excellent, honestly. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the discussions and how, even compared to when I finished my first undergrad, there is more focus on “the statistics show minority students, especially black students, are being held back systemically. How do we fix it so these students have the same education and equal footing?” For a North Dakota school, it floored me lol
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
You will be shocked to learn that the (deep, deep red) legislature absolutely hates NDSU lol.
 
Necromanti

Necromanti

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,548
So much for the "universities are where you get your beliefs challenged and shouldn't have safe spaces" crowd.
 
Don Fluffles

Don Fluffles

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,920
Pathetic. They think the 1300 students and teachers they screwed over are are gonna take that sitting down?
 
OP
OP
Dr. Monkey

Dr. Monkey

Mafia MVP
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,962
Don Fluffles said:
Pathetic. They think the 1300 students and teachers they screwed over are are gonna take that sitting down?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It depends. Word is the classes are getting "wrapped up" next week, so instead of the rest of the semester of work, they're done.

In a pandemic when we are all tired, will the students actually be upset about it? How many of them will care? To most, the impact is simply: less work.

I don't know how activist a student body Boise State is but my guess would be... not. Oh, I'm sure there will be small groups who protest. I know faculty is discussing (again, probably not all faculty), but. People are exhausted. This is exactly the right time for conservative assholes to pull this shit.
 
Cation

Cation

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
2,806
Literal snowflakes, Sorry for the kids whose education is at this cost.

Also F the GOP for purposely removing funding
 
Walker_Boh

Walker_Boh

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,150
Boise, Idaho
I get calls every week from the Idaho Freedom Foundation fucks complaining about college students destroying America. Fuck them and everything they stand for, especially since they did everything they could to stop the Medicare expansion.
Rag said:
Idaho has been on a roll lately. I'm so glad I haven't been anywhere near a classroom in the Trump/Post Trump Era.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I was a senior at BSU during the 2016 election. Those were fun times, doubly so after Trump won.
 
OP
OP
Dr. Monkey

Dr. Monkey

Mafia MVP
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,962
Walker_Boh said:
I get calls every week from the Idaho Freedom Foundation fucks complaining about college students destroying America. Fuck them and everything they stand for, especially since they did everything they could to stop the Medicare expansion.

I was a senior at BSU during the 2016 election. Those were fun times, doubly so after Trump won.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I'm not surprised. I had two students get death threats (one whose dorm room was also broken into and vandalized) on election night and our whole campus was tense for days. It was a really rough time. I have very sharp memories of my students in those days.

Lot of people thought this would "end" when 45 was out of office, but that's such a naive proposition when we look at state legislatures.
 
Rag

Rag

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,760
Walker_Boh said:
I get calls every week from the Idaho Freedom Foundation fucks complaining about college students destroying America. Fuck them and everything they stand for, especially since they did everything they could to stop the Medicare expansion.

I was a senior at BSU during the 2016 election. Those were fun times, doubly so after Trump won.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Ugh. The IFF and the 3%ers can fuck off so hard.
 
viandante

viandante

Member
Apr 24, 2020
1,189
“student” degraded. one fucking student has a problem and they shut down 52 sections of this class?

ahhhh idaho..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.