The College Fix

Professor says changes might send message school is ‘too liberal’

The University of Minnesota Twin Cities has proposed a revised general education program that requires students to take a “Race, Power, and Justice” course and choose a focus area in equity, environment, civic life, or wellbeing.

A committee of faculty, students, and advisors wrote the proposed revisions at the request of the provost and the university’s education policy committee.

A university spokesman said “University Governance” will review the proposal “this spring.”

“If approved, it would be in place for new Twin Cities campus students entering the University in Fall Fall 2027 and for transfer students entering in Fall 2029,” Director of Public Relations Andria Waclawski told The College Fix via email. She also shared a link to a university webpage with more information.

The Fix also asked what motivated the revisions and what the goals of the new requirements were.

The proposed changes have drawn criticism from both inside and outside of the university, including from a former administrator at Arizona State University.

The proposed curriculum “ensures students are told what to think, not taught how to think,” Ann Atkinson told The Fix via email. She is a director with Parents Defending Education and former executive director of the T.W. Lewis Center for Personal Development.

“Of all potential core curriculum requirements, the University of Minnesota elevates a course that pushes a singular narrative—that America is systemically racist,” Atkinson told The Fix via email. “A true education exposes students to diverse perspectives, not just one ideological script.”

Atkinson said similar requirements are the driving force behind Americans’ declining trust in higher education, citing a poll by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression which found only 28 percent of Americans still have confidence in universities.

“Rather than equipping students with a broad understanding of American history, the university enshrines a course rooted in activism, not inquiry,” Atkinson said.

“If the goal is truth and intellectual growth, universities should require courses that develop critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving—not ideological obedience,” Atkinson told The Fix.

The changes also drew criticism from both humanities and STEM professors.

In addition to the focus areas and course mandate, the proposed curriculum will replace its core requirements—arts and humanities, biological sciences, historical perspectives, literature, mathematical thinking, physical sciences, and social sciences—in favor of more abstract requirements.

This includes scientific thinking, quantitative reasoning, the human past, the search for meaning, societies, cultures and communities, and creativity and imagination.

Professors expressed their concern over this change in a recent Faculty Senate Meeting held on Feb. 6.

“There’s no literature requirement anymore and recent reports have shown that reading scores in K-12 education are going down,” Professor Michael Gallope, professor of cultural studies and comparative literature, said at the meeting. “I’m very concerned that we’re retreating from some of the basics.”

Others expressed concern over the proposed topics and the potential impact it could have on student enrollment.

“You’re really sort of forcing them. They have no other option. They have to go through one of these gateways to pass through an education at the University of Minnesota,” Jeremiah Mans, associate head of the school of physics and astronomy, said during the meeting.

“This could be read by students who are coming in and are unsure about whether they really have a home at the University of Minnesota or whether it is potentially too liberal of a place for them,” Mans said.

Others questioned the cost of implementing the changes.

Kathryn Pearson, co-chair of the Core Curriculum 2025 Committee, says the initial $5 million to implement proposed changes has already been set aside by the provost with an additional $500,000 recurring annually.

Pearson is largely responsible for the implementation of the “Race, Power, and Justice” course requirement that is part of the university’s existing liberal education curriculum.

She proposed the mandate before the University and Faculty Senate in Feb. 2021.

During that meeting, Pearson said the mandate was a response to a request by the Executive Vice President and Provost Rachel Croson “in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.”

“Understanding systemic racism in its history is central to understanding power and justice in the United States,” Pearson said. “The University is failing students if they do not learn about systemic racial inequality and gain the tools and skills necessary to analyze it and its implications.”

The proposed changes come amid concerns by some on campus that the university would halt DEI programs in response to President Donald Trump’s order to end programs that use racial preference.

“We have not rolled back diversity, equity and inclusion at the University of Minnesota, and we are not making any preemptive changes to our existing programs,” President Rebecca Cunningham wrote to the university community, according to an email obtained by The College Fix.

The law school paused its search for an assistant DEI dean at the end of January, as reported by the student newspaper, leading to concerns about other rollbacks of diversity programs.

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