By: Emma Parker
Northern Illinois University is requiring their campus organizations to “define antiblackness” and “analyze the ways it has impacted their lives,” as part of mandatory diversity training sessions.
According to internal documents obtained through YAF’s Freedom of Information Act request, NIU mandated student organization leaders to fill out a form identifying how they can “define antiracism,” “grow as an ally,” and how to be “equitable-minded for all identities.”
The form states that to “practice effective leadership” through their student organization, the student must “incorporate antiracist values into [their] student organization,” and “analyze the ways antiblackness impacts peoples’ lives.” The mandatory survey was distributed to leaders of 300+ student organizations following completion of diversity trainings, as YAF previously reported.
According to YAF’s previous report, the required diversity training for student organizations taught that the following are examples of “anti-blackness”
–Justifying brutality against Black children
–Assuming that violence is deserved
–“All Lives Matter” or “Blue Lives Matter”
–Misinformation or lies
–The belief that Black people are dangerous
–Anti-black institutions and policies
When concerns about this language were brought up through Facebook private messages, the university did not respond.
The university quietly edited the presentation following YAF’s exposé.
Campuses should be spaces of free speech. Institutions that require students to parrot leftist talking points are not preparing students to be effective campus leaders. It is the job of universities to teach students how to think, not what to think.
Emma Parker is a National Journalism Center summer intern and a student at Christopher Newport University.
