Oberlin College Now Paying Students for Social Justice Activism

Oberlin College Now Paying Students for Social Justice Activism

Why doesn’t Oberlin drop the pretense of being a college and just embrace progressive political activism full time?

Reason reports:

Oberlin College Is Hiring Students to Be Social Justice Activists, Host Microaggression Training

At Oberlin College, students interested in social justice can apply for a job teaching their classmates about microaggressions and the nature of oppression.

The position is called “Social Justice Education Facilitator,” pays $8.15 an hour, and requires “knowledge on the various forms of oppression, including but not limited to: race, gender, sexuality, ability, class, citizenship, etc.,” according to the listing on the college’s website. Students chosen for the job will be expected to help run the Multicultural Resource Center’s various training modules: Power, Privilege, and Oppression Training; Beyond the Binary Training; and Microaggression Training.

Note that the center is not an academic department. It’s an administrative office run by an assistant dean of students. Its website makes the place seem explicitly ideological and highly partisan.

That difference matters. It’s one thing for a professor within a classroom setting to teach students about the nature of oppression, or to discuss how certain people have been marginalized because of their gender or skin color. It’s quite another for the college to train—and pay!—students to serve as activists outside of the classroom.

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