{"id":106261,"date":"2022-04-26T00:11:14","date_gmt":"2022-04-26T04:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=106261"},"modified":"2022-04-26T02:30:32","modified_gmt":"2022-04-26T06:30:32","slug":"lawmakers-stop-crt-seminar-from-returning-to-unc-chapel-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/lawmakers-stop-crt-seminar-from-returning-to-unc-chapel-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers stop CRT seminar from returning to UNC Chapel Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A lampooned <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/activist-lectures-u-north-carolina-students-about-right-handed-privilege\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">session<\/a> offered last fall at UNC Chapel Hill that touted concepts such as \u201cright-handed privilege,\u201d \u201csystematic oppression through implicit biases\u201d and \u201cidentity-based privilege\u201d will not be returning to campus this fall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[W]e have no plans to bring Social Responsibility Speaks representatives back to campus,\u201d a UNC Chapel Hill representative told state Rep. Jon Hardister in an email.<\/p>\n<p>The decision marks the end of an embarrassing chapter for UNC for hosting a session that suggested \u201cright-handed privilege\u201d was a real threat to student wellness.<\/p>\n<p>The controversial session had been led by Christina Parle of the group <a href=\"https:\/\/srspeaks.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social Responsibility Speaks<\/a>, <em>Carolina Review<\/em>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/carolinareviewonline.org\/2021\/11\/17\/unc-required-greek-life-to-attend-ideological-training\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Parle began with an indigenous land acknowledgment, then delved into \u201cprivileged identities,\u201d including height <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-97415 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/right-hand.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"423\" height=\"277\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/right-hand.jpg 580w, https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/right-hand-370x242.jpg 370w, https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/right-hand-560x367.jpg 560w, https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/right-hand-135x88.jpg 135w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 423px) 100vw, 423px\" \/>privilege, noting supermarkets use the law of averages and build for the \u201caverage height person.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Review<\/em> also <a href=\"https:\/\/carolinareviewonline.org\/2021\/11\/17\/unc-required-greek-life-to-attend-ideological-training\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> Parle \u201casserted that right-handed privilege is yet another system, explaining that it has \u2018made left-handed people invisible by setting the standard.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter a moment of consideration, the labels of \u2018right-handedness\u2019 and \u2018right-handed privilege\u2019 were replaced with \u2018whiteness\u2019 and \u2018white privilege.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the session made headlines, 68 North Carolina lawmakers co-signed a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CarolinaReview\/status\/1455951901678309376\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">letter<\/a> written by Hardister, a Republican, demanding answers over the programming.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">NCGA Demands Guskiewicz Respond: chair of NC House Ed Committee <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JonHardister?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JonHardister<\/a> &amp; 67 cosigning NCGA members sent a letter to Chancellor Guskiewicz demanding response to the mandatory \u2018Right-Handed Privilege\u2019 event hosted by the UNC Admin, which was uncovered by Carolina Review. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/4NR6beZByZ\">pic.twitter.com\/4NR6beZByZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Carolina Review (@CarolinaReview) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CarolinaReview\/status\/1455951901678309376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 3, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Hardister, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncleg.gov\/Members\/Biography\/H\/645\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">statehouse majority whip<\/a>, told <em>The College Fix<\/em> that he and his colleagues\u2019 concerns over the programming prompted UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz to reevaluate it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe our efforts to raise awareness got the attention of UNC leadership and the Board of Trustees,\u201d Hardister said via email recently to <em>The College Fix.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>UNC\u2019s media relations team provided <em>The College Fix<\/em> with a copy of Chancellor Guskiewicz\u2019s response to Rep. Hardister\u2019s original letter. It basically argued that the session was part of a much larger wellness program.<\/p>\n<p>The letter pointed out it was not mandatory campuswide, was meant for members of the Greek Life system, and that it cost $4,000, paid for by fraternity and sorority fees, not tax dollars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere were mixed reactions to the content presented and while many found it useful, clearly others did not. Regardless, the series is now on hold and under review. It will be reevaluated in the new year before any new sessions are offered,\u201d Chancellor Guskiewicz wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Hardister, who chairs North Carolina\u2019s House Education-Universities Committee, said he has \u201csubsequently had productive conversations with Chancellor Guskiewicz and others at UNC about the importance of avoiding university-sponsored programs that cause division among students.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>UNC media relations department did not respond to further queries by <em>The College Fix.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In a letter from UNC officials to Rep. Hardister, campus leadership explained its plans moving forward, noting the wellness programming will continue but they will not invite back the organization behind the \u201cright-handed privilege\u201d seminar:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Representative Hardister,<\/p>\n<p>Very sorry for the delay in getting you this response. Please see below from our folks in student affairs.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for your follow-up questions. It\u2019s important to understand that the \u201c8 Dimensions of Wellness\u201d series isn\u2019t a training program, but a series of educational workshops about student health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n<p>As noted, our remaining programs in the 8 Dimensions of Wellness series focus on stress and mental\/emotional health through the \u201cemotional wellness\u201d workshops that remain for February and career planning and preparedness in the \u201ccareer wellness\u201d workshops for March\/April. There are no other DEI-related workshops planned in this series. Given that the Oct. 18 DEI workshop was a one-time session, and we have no plans to bring Social Responsibility Speaks representatives back to campus, our review of the Wellness series led us to determine that we didn\u2019t need to discontinue or change our practices for the remaining educational workshops, which address critical topics for our student community.<\/p>\n<p>As we always do, we will exercise all due diligence in sourcing and vetting speakers that we bring to campus\u2014and ensure that we reflect a diversity of viewpoints, experiences, and expertise. Thank you for your support of Carolina and our students.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Hardister also told <em>The College Fix<\/em> he hopes that the entire situation will serve to prompt campus leaders to better vet future seminars in an effort to avoid divisive, ideological programs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my opinion, this is an issue that the UNC Board of Governors needs to work to address by creating a framework, defining what kind of mandatory training programs are and are not permissible,\u201d he told <em>The College Fix<\/em> via email.<\/p>\n<p>When asked what such a framework would look like, Rep. Hardister said he believes it would need to \u201crequire diversity and inclusion training to focus on mutual respect, not being judgmental, don&#8217;t judge others based on physical or ethnic characteristics, etc.,\u201d while also prohibiting \u201cuniversity-sanctioned instruction or training that promotes the theory that one race is inherently oppressive or that a person is predisposed to be a racist, bigot, etc., simply because of their race, gender [or] ethnicity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hardister, in his email to <em>The Fix,<\/em> said he would hope the Board of Governors takes up such efforts, but added legislative action is always an option.<\/p>\n<p>Hardister suggested that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncleg.gov\/Sessions\/2021\/Bills\/House\/PDF\/H324v5.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">House Bill 324<\/a> \u2014 which would prohibit CRT-like instruction in public K-12 schools \u2014 could be expanded to cover higher education institutions and could serve as a \u201cmodel for such a framework.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although the bill was recently vetoed by North Carolina\u2019s governor, Hardister said he suspects the General Assembly will try again to pass it, probably \u201cafter this year&#8217;s election, particularly if Republicans gain seats in the midterm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He noted \u201cnot a single Democrat voted in favor of this bill.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/activist-lectures-u-north-carolina-students-about-right-handed-privilege\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Activist lectures U. North Carolina students about \u2018right-handed privilege\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>IMAGE: William Yeung \/ Flickr<\/p>\n            <div class=\"article-truncate-control\">\n                <button class=\"show-complete-article\">\n                    Read More                <\/button>\n            <\/div>\n\n        ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;There are no other DEI-related workshops planned in this series.&#8217; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1081,"featured_media":23221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1085,1077],"tags":[11301,44837,2658],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/UNCseal-WilliamYeung-flickr.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Oh4L-rDT","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106261"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106261"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106273,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106261\/revisions\/106273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}