'Anti-Black Racism' Course Focus Of New UConn Requirement

STORRS, CT —A new "social justice" requirement initiated by the University of Connecticut Senate has made a racism course mandatory.

In a letter to the school community, UConn Provost Anne D'Alleva said the focus will be on a one-credit "Anti-Black Racism" course that has been offered as an elective since fall of 2021.

"I want to recognize the students who demonstrated strong leadership in moving this proposal forward and advocating for educating to end racism and all forms of discrimination and the faculty who developed this course and proposed requirement; and the senators who engaged in a thoughtful discussion of the issues," she said.

D'Alleva said because the new requirement passed after the catalogue deadline for the 2023-24 academic year, it will go into effect in 2024-25.

"This allows time to plan for its implementation," she said. "As the discussion in the senate demonstrated, there are still a number of questions that need to be settled regarding the new requirement."

The questions include:

• How the course will be situated within the new Common Curriculum
• How the course fits as a three-credit diversity requirement
• The impact of the new requirement on high-credit majors
• Logistics and funding

Several senators also spoke to the possibility of offering multiple courses to fulfill the social justice requirement.

D'Alleva said, "ABR has already inspired and provided a template for other pop-up courses, including 'Why the Jews? Confronting Antisemitism" and "Confronting Anti-Asian Racism." All of these have the potential to build on and extend the foundation established by the ABR course and help us as a community to strive for a more equitable and inclusive university and broader society."

D'Alleva said the UConn Senate Common Curriculum Committee is working with the Provost Office to form an implementation subcommittee for the new requirement beginning this fall.

"During the fall 2023-24 academic year, I will continue to fund ABR and other pop-up courses, which have proved to be highly popular electives taken by thousands of students," she said. "UConn stands strong in opposing racism and all forms of discrimination. An education at our university must provide many opportunities to confront the history and current reality of injustice and human rights abuses, and we expect our students to be leaders in creating a more just and equitable world. ABR and the curricular changes that are in development are a powerful point of departure from the status quo."