(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) In order to prove their own virtue to the world, freshmen at the University of Delaware have to create a list of their many privileges that they recieve from living in American society, Campus Reform reported.
The course designed for University of Delaware freshmen is mandatory. It is called “UNIV 101: First Year Experience.”
According to the University, the aim of the course is to “help students adjust to college life” and highlights the “commitment at UD to being a community that recognizes and appreciates diversity and difference.”
The checklist asks sutdents to rate their privilege based on several categories, including but not limited to “White Race, Ethnicity, and Culture Privilege,” “Cisgender Privilege,” “Sexuality Privilege,” and “Male/Masculine Privilege.”
Students are asked to judge their own level of privilege by agreeing or disagreeing with statements like:
- “I know that the police and other state authorities are there to protect me,”
- “I do not have to worry that my gender expression will make people around me uncomfortable,”
- and “I can assume that everyone I encounter will understand my [gender] identity, and not think I’m confused or hell-bound when I reveal it to them.”
A course instructor was asked to explain the Privilege Checklist.
She noted that it is a “tool used as part of class discussion on diversity, equity and inclusion and the workshop was designed by Honors students in PACCT (People of All Colors and Communities Together).”
According to the instructor, the course was inspired by the 2020 death of George Floyd.
“After the death of George Floyd, students challenged the Honors College to do more to be inclusive and help students understand the importance of diversity and equity, and having a discussion in [their] First Year Seminar courses is one way [they] are trying to do more.”
