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U. Texas ‘reading group’ on Trump-era politics features gender/race-based curriculum

A lecturer in art and art history at the University of Texas “will be dedicating his Monday nights” to enlightening students (and staff!) about the political climate under our new president.

The Daily Texan reports William Schweigert’s “Trump 2.0 Reading Group” began last week and is an “informal” class which “examin[es] Trump’s political success during the past election year.”

If you are pondering how, well, balanced this confab might be, consider that its first curriculum had to be revised due to outrage from the usual suspects:

“The original syllabus, Trump 1.0, received criticism from multiple organizations for its lack of scholars of color and other marginalized groups, as well as failing to address issues such as racism, sexism and xenophobia, topics that have been at the forefront of political conversations this last election year.”

More from the article:

Trump 2.0, the updated version of the original syllabus that Schweigert’s group will be using, was created by historians N.D.B Connolly and Keisha N. Blain and includes suggested readings and resources from more than 100 scholars across multiple disciplines.

“I think a lot of what’s going on is spurred out of not being educated and not understanding a lot of the issues going on,” visual art studies junior Jade Partain said. “I think it’s important especially now to be involved … there’s always more to learn.”

Schweigert said he will also be using additional material that he finds relevant to the topics the group will follow, as well as any relevant material members of the group can contribute.

MORE: SJW profs protest hypothetical anti-Trump ‘syllabus’ as ‘too white’

“We will all offer up the resources we have, we will make a communal brain,” Schweigert said in an email. “We want diverse academic thought, we want collaboration.”

Focused more on the history and political climate that led to Trump’s election and less on Trump as a man, the syllabus is organized into weekly topics that include “Trumpism Anecdotes,” “Sexuality and LGBTQ Rights,” “Racial Double Standards under Mass Incarceration” and “Misogyny, Sexism and Shaming the Female Body,” among many others.

That original syllabus, actually dubbed “Trump 101,” was featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education last summer. Professors Connolly, Blain, and Chad Williams complained that the course was “inappropriate” and “highly offensive” noting it “fails to include the works of scholars of color, thereby perpetuating the message that the only works worth reading in American political history are those written by white scholars.”

Connolly called it a “disgraceful example of white methodological myopia.”

According to their respective webpages, Dr. Connolly “write[s] about the interplay between racism, capitalism, politics, and the built environment in the twentieth century,” while Dr. Blain’s “broad interdisciplinary interests” include African American history, the (modern) African Diaspora, and Women’s and Gender Studies.

Think Mr. Trump will get a fair shake at these gab fests?

Read the full story.

MORE: University launches class dedicated to studying Donald Trump

MORE: Trump chalking leads to mandatory ‘minority culture’ class

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