(Headline USA) A Michigan college is using federal funds to launch a program addressing “systemic racism” and “transphobia,” according to the College Fix.
Siena Heights University, a private Catholic school in Adrian, Mich., plans to launch a “Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion” program this fall. It is being funded by a $34,905 planning grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to “design a new, coherent D&I certificate program … that is qualitatively distinct from the D&I certificates offered at other institutions,” records show.
Students who enroll in the program will receive a D&I certificate after completing 12 credit hours of training on issues including “racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia,” according to the university course catalog.
Students will also “be placed at an external organization in their field to work with an on-site supervisor for approximately 10 weeks to identify and address one or more organizational issues related to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion,” said professor Leland Harper, who is running the program.
“[The course] allows our students to put theory into practice and gain real hands-on experience applying their knowledge in the workplace,” Harper added.
Harper argued Siena’s program is the “bare minimum” of what universities should be doing to push students into DEI ideology.
“We should not just be trying to comply, and there is more that needs to be said about how and why we can foster ideas of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in our society,” he argued. “Simply put, the education programs that are out there, by and large, weren’t doing a good enough job of providing learners with the information they need.”
Harper also runs a private consulting firm, Leland Harper Consulting, that provides “diversity, equity and inclusion solutions for the modern hospitality industry.”
Earlier this month, Harper’s firm announced it had partnered with Siena Heights to offer “implicit bias training” for nursing professionals and students.
