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Students must ‘recognize their own implicit biases’
Florida State University public safety students must confront their own “unconscious bias” as part of a course offered each semester.
The class, “Bias Awareness in Public Safety and Security,” also assigns an implicit bias test and a video discussion of its usefulness.
The “personal growth plan” counts for 40 percent of the grades.
“Using what you have learned about your personal biases and ways to reduce unconscious bias from your decision-making, you will demonstrate an understanding of the importance of withholding judgement about the new or unfamiliar,” the syllabus for the fall 2026 course states. “The personal growth plan will include a personal assessment, personal mission statement and development, action plan, and reflection.”
Students are told from the beginning that everyone has bias. “This course provides students the skills and knowledge to recognize their own implicit biases and develop techniques for recognizing everyone has unconscious biases and how not to allow it to impact decision making,” the course description states.
Florida law for public universities states: “General education core courses may not distort significant historical events or include a curriculum that teaches identity politics.” Core courses also cannot teach that “systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities.”
The course is an elective and does not violate the state’s prohibition on DEI in the classroom, spokeswoman Amy Farnum-Patronis told The College Fix via email.
“All CoreFSU courses are reviewed to make sure they are compliant with Florida Board of Governors [regulations],” the spokeswoman said.
“The curriculum for this course, which is an upper-level undergraduate elective, is compliant with Florida Statutes,” she stated.
The Fix also asked whether students could decline testing or personal bias assessments on academic or philosophical grounds.
Farnum-Patronis’ response did not address the opt-out question.
The instructor, Bryanna Davis, did not respond to two emails sent in the past several weeks.
Course acknowledges differing views on implicit bias test reliability
The Week 11 discussion asks students to consider their reaction to an implicit bias test and whether such tests are useful. Students must record a response of at least two minutes, supply references, and respond in writing to a classmate.
However, a legal scholar questioned the reliability of the implicit bias tests and noted the course does acknowledge the counter arguments.
Gregory Mitchell, a law professor at the University of Virginia, told The Fix that the syllabus appears to include discussion of the Implicit Association Test’s limitations. He pointed to an assigned article by journalist Jesse Singal criticizing the test.
“There can be multiple educational reasons for having students use a psychological instrument as part of a class discussing the instrument,” Mitchell told The Fix in an Oct. 26 email.
Mitchell said he could not assess how the test would be used in the class or the growth plan. He directed The Fix to qualifications and cautions published on the testing website.
Project Implicit’s ethical guidance says students should have a choice about participating in the scientific research conducted through its website.
“Instructors who grant course credit for participation should offer an alternative assignment,” the guidance states. The organization’s frequently asked questions distinguish findings about groups from predictions about individuals and caution that a person’s results can vary between tests.
The course does not have to allow an opt-out, though, according to a national free speech group.
Laura Beltz, director of policy reform at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, told The Fix that instructors generally may assign material students disagree with.
“However, instructors cannot require students to actually adopt beliefs as their own or suffer academic consequences,” Beltz told The Fix in an Oct. 29 email.
Beltz said requiring the test and a reflection could be permissible. She identified potential viewpoint discrimination if an instructor penalized a student for finding the test unhelpful, and similar concerns if grades on the growth plan depended on a student’s ideological views.
“Again, we’d want to see whether students are being assessed based on their understanding of the course material, or if the instructor is assessing students based on whether they profess to hold particular beliefs,” Beltz told The Fix.
