The University of Memphis created a grant program that offers select professors $3,000 to infuse curricula with the tenets of “diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice,” according to a report from the Washington Free Beacon.
The grant will be given to 15 to 20 faculty members who work on the program from the spring of 2022 to the spring semester of 2023, according to an email obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. Staff members who are chosen will be asked to attend “extensive pedagogical and theoretical training and workshop experiences” alongside their curricula redesign, according to the email.
“The Eradicating Systemic Racism and Promoting Social Justice Initiative at the University of Memphis is offering an opportunity for interested faculty to critically consider methods and approaches to redesign existing courses housed within their departments to better advance the tenets and charge of the University’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice,” the email reads.
Staff will give presentations throughout the year-long program and a “university-wide post-conference presentation” to share “strategies, foci and best practices and approaches to focused course redesign.”
New from me @FreeBeacon:@uofmemphis, a public university in a deep red state, is offering professors financial incentives for “infusing” social justice into their classes; this program is already under fire from Tennessee’s federal lawmakers.https://t.co/oAfMeZIyjW
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— Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) January 3, 2022
Some have called for classrooms to “diversify the curriculum,” but most scholarship programs focused on “add-on courses” instead of “reviewing and transforming existing curriculum,” according to the University of Memphis’ website.
The university’s goal is to make social justice-inspired curriculum available to all students, not just students who opt-in to certain classes on the topic.
The grant is part of the university’s “Eradicating Systemic Racism and Promoting Social Justice Initiative.” Other programs in the initiative include “Recruiting, Hiring, and Retaining Tenured and Tenure-Track African American Faculty and Other Faculty of Color,” “Training for Faculty, Staff, and Students-Cultural Competence,” and “Contracting with Minority Businesses.” (RELATED: The Top 10 Moments Of Campus Insanity In 2021)
Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett told the Washington Free Beacon that the university should be “ashamed” for using taxpayer dollars on a program he views as inherently political.
“Leadership at the University of Memphis should be ashamed for bribing professors to advance this useless teaching,” Burchett said. “Students are better prepared for professional careers if they learn the three R’s — reading, writing, and arithmetic — instead of woke activism.”
The University of Memphis did not respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.