Minneapolis Community and Technical College lecturer Shannon Gibney (who is African America) was formally reprimanded by her university after three White male students complained that they were being made to study structural racism. One student interrupted Gibney during her Mass Communications class and asked: “Why do we have to talk about this?”
Another student chimed in: “Yeah, I don’t get this either. It’s like people are trying to say that white men are always the villains, the bad guys. Why do we have to say this?” The students filed a formal complaint. They argued they were forced into a “hostile learning environment.”
After being reprimanded for trying to teach in her role as lecturer, Gibney and six of her colleagues are filing a federal class action lawsuit saying their university is a discriminatory workplace.
This case is exactly why Whiteness and postcolonialism studies are quintessential.
These students feel entitled to evoke discrimination because they were encouraged to explore their own social privilege (see my earlier post on the problems with the idea of reverse racism).
Video link and information on the class action: Salon.
The Other Sociologist 