A civil rights complaint has been filed against Colorado State University alleging that certain “pedagogy of discomfort” social work teaching methods constitute illegal race- and sex-based discrimination.
The complaint, filed by Fair for All, was prompted by a now-withdrawn academic paper co-authored by a CSU instructor and a former graduate student that described using classroom practices like confronting white fragility.
Critics contend such tactics created a hostile learning environment for some students that are white, male, or both.
FAIR on Sept. 30 filed the civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights against Colorado State University, alleging “discriminatory pedagogical practices” in violation of Title VI and Title IX.
The complaint was spurred by descriptions of pedagogical practices found in a now-withdrawn academic paper published by the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research in July.
In the paper, CSU social work instructor Marie Villescas and former CSU social work graduate student Quinn Hafen, who now works as an assistant professor at the University of Wyoming, detailed their implementation of “interracial teaching partnerships” and the “pedagogy of discomfort” in a pair of 2023 undergraduate social work courses.
They noted that course lessons included topics like “white fragility” and “social work’s role in perpetuating whiteness.” Additionally, in their paper, the scholars described their dismissal of the distress their teaching methods appeared to induce in some of their white and male students as something they referred to as “whitelash.”
Racism is increasingly the excuse for racist teaching.
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