SUNY requires students to explain how people of different races, socioeconomic backgrounds and genders have formed their identities over time in its new college racial equity courses that begin in the fall. Students will also have to examine how interconnected social systems and structures shape and are shaped by the interplay of power, privilege, oppression and opportunity. They will also be required to apply rights, access, equity and self-determined participation to social justice efforts in the past, present or future.

SUNY makes new racial equity class mandatory for graduation at all schools https://t.co/cBDVk93oq6 pic.twitter.com/rIUULpMBfv

— New York Post (@nypost) February 1, 2023

 

The mandate specifies that while the primary focus should be on equity and social justice in the United States, courses may also examine what has happened or is happening in other countries for comparison.

According to the most recent guidance from SUNY for the DEISJ implementation, a single course should comprise the lessons. Still, other classes should “make significant changes” to their curriculum design to meet the requirements.

According to naysayers, such required “equity” training runs contradictory in efforts to achieve racial “equality.” Professor of political science at Suffolk Community College in the State University of New York Nicholas Giordano expressed his disapproval of the new regulations to the New York Post.

As a member of the conservative watchdog group, Giordano asserted the DEISJ course would show the United States as “inherently racist” and have students “defined by the color of their skin.”

“This is nuts,” Giordano said. “SUNY is one of the best university systems in the country. Why are they doing this?!”

“To tell [minority students] they can’t compete with a white person is insulting and racist,” he continued.

 

State Conservative Party Chair Jerry Kassar compared the new course to the increasingly divisive field of critical race theory.

“This is a woke, left-wing agenda,” Kassar said. “It’s disturbing. It’s dangerous.”

“They’re treating everybody as having prejudice. It’s like a socialist, Communist state. It’s unbelievable. These ideas are best addressed at home,” he continued.

Drake University, Brandeis University, Villanova University and the University of California system are just a few institutions that have enacted similar racial equity programs on their respective campuses.

The broad, 25-point “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Act” plan, intended to close “racial equity gaps,” was approved by the SUNY Board of Trustees in February 2021 while New York was still dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. It was developed by former governor Andrew Cuomo and James Malatras, the chancellor he selected.

The new policy, according to the press release, “embeds racial equity into [the] curriculum and toward racial equity” on campuses. Updates to the criminal justice curriculum are also part of the plan.

To comply with the new DEISJ requirement, the SUNY Faculty Senate and Faculty Council of Community Colleges recently released guidelines on course approval. According to sources, officials at SUNY consulted with campus faculty and students for months before approving the plan, and it has widespread support.