[Factc] SSB 5227 concerns

[Nix, Jason]

The more I read about the details of SSB 5227<https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5227&Year=2021&Initiative=false>, and the required anti-racism training the original version mandated for all college faculty and staff, the more questions I have about what role, if any, the state board intends to have in local decision-making when it comes to issues of faculty training, instruction, promotion, and (possibly) tenure.
The WEA lobbyist I spoke to told me of the revisions being made in committee, which removed the mandatory training (except for new faculty), as well as other significant changes to the bill.
I emailed Ha Nguyen with questions, but she did not return my email.

My concern is that, once something is labeled "antiracist," we seem to be expected to accept its claims, world view, and prescriptive policy changes without question. While I welcome any opportunity to examine the claims made by Kendi, DiAngelo, Coates, and others. I don't believe their work is should be immune from academic scrutiny.
I worry that efforts like SSB 5227 are more about ensuring ideological orthodoxy than furthering the efforts to increase access and success among disadvantaged students.

There are serious academics (John McWhorter comes to mind), who are raising concerns about the role unchecked and largely unvetted antiracism ideology is playing on college campuses around the nation, and whether or not it is counterproductive to the very important work of ensuring opportunity for students of color.
Once I hear language like "racist assessments," being thrown around as if they should be taken for granted, I wonder if we're treading on some very dangerous ground here.

While I'm the first to stand up for finding and eliminating sources of racism and breaking down barriers to achievement to any disadvantaged students, I believe faculty would do well to closely examine what this training entails as well as the reasoning behind its claims.

This story in today's NY Times provides us with a cautionary tale.

I'd welcome further discussion of this during the next meeting.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/us/smith-college-race.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
[https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/02/24/us/24SmithCollege1/24SmithCollege1-facebookJumbo-v2.jpg]<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/us/smith-college-race.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage>
Inside a Battle Over Race, Class and Power at Smith College - The New York Times<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/us/smith-college-race.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage>
Smith College is an elite 145-year-old liberal arts college, where tuition, room and board top $78,000 a year and where the employees who keep the school running often come from working-class ...
www.nytimes.com


Jason Nix
Journalism Program Lead
Faculty Adviser/ The Communicator
www.communicatoronline.org<http://www.communicatoronline.org>
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