Two Virginia colleges face backlash after backtracking on plans to require diversity courses

June 02, 2024 1 min read

Nicquel Terry Ellis
CNN

Excerpt: When the police killings of Black people, including George Floyd set off racial unrest across the country in 2020, Marie Vergamini decided she wanted to do her part to help address systemic racism. So, Vergamini, a doctoral student and adjunct instructor at Virginia Commonwealth University, joined a committee of faculty and students who were creating a racial literacy curriculum. The committee planned to make the racial literacy curriculum part of general education requirements for incoming students.

But the decisions to drop the course requirements at VCU and postpone them at George Mason have faced backlash from faculty and students who say the material is meant to prepare students for the real world by offering a better understanding of the nation’s history of racism and discrimination.

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