Faculty Seminar on Challenging Racism and Teaching for Inclusivity
"You are all brothers (and sisters)… for you have one Father who is in heaven."
— Matthew 23:8-9
Purposes of Seminar
The issue of racial justice in various areas of social life—law enforcement, educational attainment, political participation, economic opportunity, health care access and quality, and environmental protection—is, understandably, being given ever heightened attention today. It is incumbent on us in a Catholic university to fully and meaningfully engage in advancing the cause of racial equality and inclusion in our society, given our professed and heartfelt commitment to the dignity, value, and worth of each and every human being (see Matthew 23:8-9 above). The purpose of this faculty seminar is four-fold:
- for participants to become agents for change in their departments, schools/colleges,
and/or discipline;
- to familiarize participants with major theoretical frameworks employed by social/behavioral
scientists and other academics/intellectuals/pundits involved in these discussions
in analyzing and addressing racism/exclusion, interpreting current controversies,
and advancing productive dialogue on such sensitive and polarizing issues;
- for participants to reflect on the implications of racial disparities and racial injustice
on higher education curricula, pedagogical strategies, and classroom management;
- to provide participants with an opportunity to develop a new course, or revise one that has been offered in the past, in a way that demonstrates a more acute sensitivity and commitment to teaching for inclusivity in their disciplines.
Participants will receive a certificate at the end of the program and will commit to share what they learn within their College/School, becoming active liaisons for the school/college they represent.
Overview of Topics and Seminar Format
There will be a total of fourteen sessions. After the initial session, in which seminar objectives will be reviewed, seminar participants will introduce themselves, seminar norms will be agreed to, and basic data on racial disparities will be presented, we will move on to Part 1 (Sessions 2-7), in which we will examine the Anti-Racism framework, the Color-Blind framework, and how these frameworks are employed in empirical research and commentaries on substantive racial issues; how productive dialogue on race/inclusion can be fostered; the phenomenon of implicit bias; and the educational achievement gap. (Dr. Anthony Haynor will serve as primary facilitator for Part 1.) In Part 2 (Sessions 8-14), we will consider the issue of disciplinary canons; pedagogical issues related to race and teaching; curricular and classroom implications; and provide an opportunity for seminar participants to present work-in-progress on their course development/revision and their plans as liaisons. (Dr. Mary Balkun will serve as primary facilitator for Part 2.) There will be readings and/or video clips assigned each week, with a seminar participant leading the discussion. Each participant will be expected to lead a discussion of one reading. There will also be several guest presenters over the course of the seminar.
Seminar Learning Objectives
By the conclusion of this seminar, participants will be able to:
- Appreciate the historical genesis of racial inequities and assess current manifestations,
in individual bias (implicit and explicit), institutionalized barriers to full equality
and inclusion, and enduring cultural/ideological supports for racial inequality, based
on the best empirical evidence
- Engage in (potentially uncomfortable) self-interrogation of one’s biases and assumptions
with respect to race and inclusion, fostered by productive dialogue with alternative
perspectives
- Embrace as Seton Hall educators their role as agents of transformation both within the classroom and in the institution as a whole, animated by a spirit of mutual respect and a commitment to civil discourse
Eligibility for Seminar Participation
Participants must be full-time faculty members.
Compensation for Seminar Participation
Participants will receive a $500 stipend at the successful completion of the seminar, including submission of a completed course syllabus and plan for carrying forward the work of the seminar.
Schedule of Seminar Sessions
The seminar will meet weekly, on Tuesdays in the fall and Wednesdays in the spring, 4 – 6 p.m.
For more information, contact Mary Balkun, [email protected] and Anthony L Haynor, [email protected].
Syllabus for Faculty Seminar On Challenging Racism And Teaching For Inclusivity
Part I: Frameworks and Controversies
Session 1: Getting Started
Overview
- Seminar learning objectives
- Norms of seminar etiquette
- Participant and facilitator introductions
- Generative and transformative dialogue
- Seton Hall University and Race
Reading/Video
- Msgr. Fahy Address (posted under "Content")
- https://www.crowdcast.io/e/moral-courage-irshad-manji-HxA
Resources
- M. Gergen, F. Barrett, and K. Gergen, "Appreciative Inquiry as Dialogue: Generative and Transformative." Pp. 3-27 in D.L. Cooperrider and M. Avital, Constructive Discourse and Human Organization. Emerald Group Publishing, 2004 (e-book in SHU Library)
- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/17/magazine/white-men-privilege.html
Session 2: The Anti-racist Framework
Overview
- Importance of entrenched inequalities (white supremacy, systemic racism)
- Historical continuity thesis and the rejection of color-blindness
- Role of explicit and implicit bias
- Equality of outcomes as moral tenet & challenging of meritocratic values
- Assessment: Anti-Racist framework as science and as value system
- Influence: Action and policy implications
Readings
- Ibram Kendi, "The American Nightmare"
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/american-nightmare/612457/ - Robin DiAngelo, "White Fragility"https://www.uua.org/sites/live-new.uua.org/files/diangelo-white_fragility_and_the_rules_of_engagement.pdf
Resources
- Keynote address, Gary Peller, Harvard Law School
https://systemicjusticeblog.wordpress.com/2015/08/16/keynotes-by-professors-gary-peller-kimberle-crenshaw/ - http://brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/about/administration/president/statements/2020/enacting-an-anti-racist-agenda-at-brooklyn-college.php
- https://paw.princeton.edu/article/faculty-members-propose-anti-racism-agenda
Session 3: The Color-blindness Framework
Overview
- Defense of color-blindness, humanistic and communitarian deep story
- Rejection of racial essentialism
- Unfinished historical progress thesis
- Equality of opportunity as moral tenet; disparities of outcomes not necessarily reflective of systemic discrimination
- Assessment: A "post-racial" society – worthwhile goal or supportive of white privilege?
Reading/Video
- John McWhorter, "The Dehumanizing Condescension of White Fragility"https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/dehumanizing-condescension-white-fragility/614146/
- Coleman Hughes, "Anti-Racism and Humanism: Two Competing Visions"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6orCV4I7jjU&list=LLcPCGjNCyA1SGnLMZAbPtnA&index=164
Resources
- Coleman Hughes, "How to Be an Anti-Intellectual"
https://www.city-journal.org/how-to-be-an-antiracist - https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-racist-are-universities-really?cid2=gen_login_refresh&cid=gen_sign_in
- https://nypost.com/2020/07/11/brooklyn-college-announces-anti-racist-agenda-for-professors/
Session 4: Studying Race:The Role of Political Identity
Overview
- The "Moral Intuitions Theory" of Jonathan Haidt
- How knowledge production is shaped by membership in moral/emotive communities
- Findings from Horowitz, Haynor and Kickham study (2018) on the degree to which political orientation is predictive of how sociologists study race
- Implications of the social psychology of knowledge: the critical importance of self-interrogation and viewpoint diversity
Reading/Video
- Jonathan Haidt (posted under "Content")
- Jonathan Haidt, The Moral Roots of Liberals and Conservatives
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SOQduoLgRw
Resources
- https://www.nj.com/news/2016/06/segregated_nj_a_look_at_how_race_still_divides_us.html
- https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/21/17139300/economic-mobility-study-race-black-white-women-men-incarceration-income-chetty-hendren-jones-porter
- Barr, Chapter 3 (posted under "Content")
Session 5: Implicit Bias
OVERVIEW
- Understanding implicit bias
- The Implicit Association Test (IAT)
- Critiques of implicit bias research
- Addressing implicit bias through generative and transformative dialogue
Exercise/Video
- https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
- J. Eberhardt, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMX0QzHbSOU
Resources
- Jesse Singal, "Psychology's Favorite Tool for Measuring Bias is Still Mired in Controversy"
https://digest.bps.org.uk/2020/04/14/we-tend-to-see-acts-we-disapprove-of-as-deliberate-a-bias-that-helps-explain-why-conservatives-believe-in-free-will-more-than-liberals/ - Tasminda K. Dhaliwal, Mark J. Chin, Virginia S. Lovison, and David M. Quinn, "Educator Bias is Associated with Racial Disparities in Student Achievement and Discipline"https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2020/07/20/educator-bias-is-associated-with-racial-disparities-in-student-achievement-and-discipline/
March 9, Spring Break
Session 6: The Achievement Gap
Overview
- The data on black-white educational disparities
- Explanations for the achievement gap
- Anti-racist vs. Color-blind perspectives on the achievement gap
- Strategies for narrowing the achievement gap
Readings
- https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/studies/pdf/school_composition_and_the_bw_achievement_gap_2015.pdf
- https://prrac.org/newsletters/novdec2015.pdf (Amanda Lewis and John Diamond, Despite the Best Intentions)
Resources
- https://www.nctsn.org/sites/default/files/resources//complex_trauma_facts_in_urban_african_american_children_youth_families.pdf
- https://thepostmillennial.com/rutgers-dismantles-grammar-among-other-mandates
- https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-rutgers-grammar-racist/fact-check-rutgers-university-did-not-declare-grammar-racist-idUSKCN2501YB
Part II: Pedagogy and Curriculum
Session 7: The Debate Over Disciplinary Canons
Overview
- The curriculum as an exclusively white discourse?
- An enrichment/balancing strategy: Adding voices of color to the existing curriculum
- A dismantling/decolonizing strategy: Purging the "white gaze"
- Critiques of the movement to radically transform the canon
Readings/Video
- Readings to be selected by seminar participants
- Asao B. Inoue, Chair's Address, National Council on Teachers of English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brPGTewcDYY
SESSION 8: The Pedagogy of Inclusive Teaching- Part 1
Overview
- How Freire's ideas can help us rethink our pedagogy
- What it means to teach the whole person
- Challenges to/critiques of Freire’s theories
Readings
- Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Chapters 1 and 2
https://libcom.org/files/Paulo%20Freire,%20Myra%20Bergman%20Ramos,%20Donaldo%20Macedo%20-%20Pedagogy%20of%20the%20Oppressed,%2030th%20Anniversary%20Edition%20(2000,%20Bloomsbury%20Academic).pdf - "Overcoming Flawed Educational Views of the Human Person" (counterpoint to Freire's argument)https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/overcoming-flawed-educational-views-of-the-human-person/
Session 9: The Pedagogy of Inclusive Teaching – Part II
Overview
- What does it mean for education to be a "practice of freedom"?
- Practical methods to make teaching more inclusive
Readings
- bell hooks,Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom
"Introduction," Chapters 1 and 2
http://sites.utexas.edu/lsjcs/files/2018/02/Teaching-to-Transcend.pdf - "How to Make Your Teaching More Inclusive"https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-to-make-your-teaching-more-inclusive/
Resources
- https://acue.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Inclusive-Teaching-Practices-Sheet_accessible2-1.pdf
- "What Two Students Want You to Know About Inclusive Teaching"https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/inclusive-teaching-fosters-supportive-classroom/
SESSION 10: Classroom Practice
Overview
- Examining current classroom practice
- Structuring class time to encourage dialogue
- How to make instruction more inclusive
Reading
- "Structuring Your Dialogic Curriculum" (posted under "Content")
- "Is Lecturing Racist?"https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/09/02/lecturing-disadvantages-underrepresented-minority-and-low-income-students-opinion
Resource
- "10 Inclusive Teaching Practices"https://acue.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Inclusive-Teaching-Practices-Sheet_accessible2-1.pdf
Session 11: Classroom Management Strategies
Overview
- Engaging discussions of race in the classroom
- Fostering civil discussion of difficult topics
Readings
- "Difficult Dialogues"
https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/difficult-dialogues/ - "Three SEL Skills You Need to Discuss Race in Classrooms" (posted under Content)
- Managing Hot Moments in the Classroom(Warren, 2000)https://www.elon.edu/u/academics/catl/wp-content/uploads/sites/126/2017/04/Managing-Hot-Moments-in-the-Classroom-Harvard_University.pdf
Resources
- "Fostering Civil Discourse: A Guide for Classroom Conversations" (posted under "Content")
- "Navigating Difficult Moments in the Classroom"
https://bokcenter.harvard.edu/navigating-difficult-moments - "Civility in the Classroom – References"
- https://www.sjcc.edu/PresidentOffice/Documents/Civility_References_Bibliography_1.pdf
Session 12: Conclusion
Overview
- Sharing Teaching/Course Plans; Seminar Evaluation; Final Thoughts