In just the latest instance of a taxpayer-funded university singling out white students for privilege-shaming “education sessions,” the University of Wisconsin-Madison hosted a special workshop on Tuesday for the purpose of getting white students to acknowledge and confront their own white privilege.
According to the university website, “The Privilege of Whiteness” workshop was designed for white people to “reflect on and name the ways their privilege impacts their beliefs and behaviors by gaining the skills to identify the historical roots of White privilege and how it manifests today.” Prospective attendees were informed that the workshop was “designed for a White audience,” although “People of color” were still welcome.
The workshop is one of a handful of “education sessions” offered through the university’s Morgridge Center for Public Service. Students wishing to participate in the university’s Badger Volunteers program are required to attend at least one of the education sessions.
The University of Wisconsin is just the latest university to single out white students for privilege-shaming workshops.
In January, Oregon State University — another taxpayer-funded institution — hosted racially-segregated “social justice retreats,” with separate but equal workshops for white, non-white and mixed-race students. While the white students’ retreats focused on their “white privilege,” the retreats for the non-white students sought to “empower students of color.”
Last November, the University of Vermont held a three-day retreat so students who “self-identify as white” could confront their own “white privilege.” The university covered all expenses — including food, travel, and housing — for students attending the retreat. Like Wisconsin and OSU, the University of Vermont is taxpayer-funded.
Earlier this semester, Northwestern University (a private institution) held a six-week “social justice education” retreat for students who “self-identify as white.” As The Daily Caller reported back in February:
A flier advertising the program states that “Deconstructing Whiteness” is intended to answer questions white students might have about race such as “Why do I have to feel guilty about being white?” or “How can I talk about race as a white person?” or “What does it mean to be white?”
The University of Wisconsin-Madison did not return TheDC’s request for comment by press time.
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