Profs Get $600K Award from NEA to Create Social Justice Courses

Profs Get $600K Award from NEA to Create Social Justice Courses

The professors are both from the University of Southern Maine and will use the money to create free social justice programs.

Campus Reform reports:

NEA awards profs $600K for ‘social justice education’ courses

Two University of Southern Maine professors recently received a $600,000 grant to organize free “pop-up courses” related to “social justice” and the “current political climate.”

Funded through a National Education Association (NEA) grant, USM faculty Julie Ziffer and Susan Feiner will establish “The Frances Perkins Social Justice Initiative for Social Justice Education” in October, which plans to offer students free classes on “social justice education” and “related current events.”

Feiner explained to Campus Reform that under the school’s current system, an “academically rigorous course” exploring the recent events in Charlottesville, for example, would take at least a year to develop, at which point students would lose interest in the topic.

Accordingly, the Social Justice Initiative will enable professors to teach courses on current events immediately, allowing them to develop and submit a course within weeks rather than the standard amount of time.

Ziffer, the other co-founder of the institute, told Campus Reform that “pop up topics will address a broad range of social justice issues including, but not limited to, prejudice and discrimination, environmental justice, poverty, human rights, and social activism,” noting that any professor will be eligible to submit a proposal.

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