Analysis: Nearly Half Of 500+ Higher Ed Schools In CriticalRace.org Database Mandate Race-Based Training And Study

WILLIAM A. JACOBSON JAN 10, 2022 9:00 PM

The CriticalRace.org website, a project of the Legal Insurrection Foundation, made waves ever since it was rolled out in early February, 2021. The centerpiece of the website is our interactive map, which enables readers to locate schools by name or location:

Fox News covered the rollout at that time, and has covered our expansion into Elite Private Secondary Schools.

• Website launched to track critical race theory teaching in higher education (February 2, 2021)
• Critical Race Theory infiltrating America’s 25 most elite private K-12 schools, according to new study (October 5, 2021)
• Critical Race Theory taught at many of America’s 50 most elite private K-12 schools, according to new study (November 10, 2021)

The website and database have been linked, quoted, and cited several dozen times across the media spectrum. The database even has been cited in proposed congressional legislation.

But wait, there’s more. When we launched with 220 colleges and universities in the database, our goal was to build it out to 500 higher ed institutions, though we didn’t know when that would happen.

Well, we just reached our goal in less than one year, we now are at 520 higher education institutions, with some top line key findings:

1. First, approximately half of the schools mandate race-related training and study, sometimes calling it CRT, but more often using euphemisms like “antiracism” or “equity.”
2. Second, these mandates are above and beyond voluntary programming, which is extensive and pervasive even where there is no mandate. A focus on race as the lens through which societal issues are viewed is overwhelming, with “systemic racism” the constant theme.
3. Third, writings by Ibram Kendi (E.g. “How to Be An Antiracist”) and Robin D’Angelo (E.g. “White Fragility”) are widely used.
4. Fourth, about one-third of the schools mandate such training for faculty and staff.
5. Fifth, some schools single out white students, faculty, and staff.

Fox News covered some of our findings, Critical race theory-related ideas found in mandatory programs at more than 230 colleges, universities: report:

At least 236 colleges or universities have some form of mandatory student training of coursework on ideas related to critical race theory (CRT), according to a database with information from more than 500 institutions.Among those are 149 institutions that have some form of mandatory faculty or staff training, with 138 mandating school-wide curricular requirements. CriticalRace.org, which compiles the research, told Fox News that these programs focus on concepts like “anti-racism,” “equity,” “implicit bias” and CRT – all of which have fueled national debate over left-wing influences in education.”Our database shows how race has become a pervasive focus in higher education with a near universal insistence that racism is systemic in the United States,” said William A. Jacobson, a Cornell University law professor who founded the sprawling database.Jacobson added that “higher ed is focused on what divides people, exacerbating rather than solving problems.” At times, research has highlighted purported racial segregation both at the K-12 and collegiate levels.Authors Robin DiAngelo and Ibram Kendi, whose book explicitly calls for discrimination, are widely included among books and writings in universities, according to Jacobson. For example, Northwestern University’s medical school made Kendi’s “How to be an Antiracist” mandatory reading for the summer of 2020. Other institutions included Kendi’s writings as resources for students….CriticalRace.org is a project of the nonprofit Legal Insurrection Foundation. Jacobson’s findings follow a trend indicated by copious news reports and research at other institutions….

Fox News also went into many of the school-specific findings:

The purported “anti-racism” or CRT-associated content is ubiquitous – appearing within curriculum, staff trainings and sometimes within training related specifically to hiring. For example, the University of Central Florida committed in 2020 to conduct implicit bias training and other trainings for everyone who participates in our hiring and search committee processes.Some have required diversity-related content as part of students’ core courses. At Western New England University, for example, the class of 2022 was required to complete at least one “Anti-Racism and Cultural Competency Course.” ….

Many scholars, including Brown University Prof. Glenn Loury, dispute the prevailing campus systemic racism narrative. But viewing the U.S. as systemically racist is not up for debate on most campuses, the door has been shut to honest intellectual inquiry. It’s now quasi-religious dogma. The element of mandates and coercion negatively affects free expression When a university adopts, and particularly when it imposes, a single viewpoint, the door to free expression closes.

The traditional American Civil Rights movement focus on equal opportunity and treatment without regard to skin color has been replaced on campuses by ‘equity’ and other euphemisms that center race and demand that skin color be the lens through which almost all societal issues are viewed. The  American Civil Rights movement ideals of colorblind opportunity and justice is dying on campuses under the weight of Critical Race Theory and its offshoots, “antiracism” and “equity”.

Perhaps the biggest quesion is: What evidence is there that the higher ed obsession with skin color helps anyone, or has resulted in a more “fair” campus? Answer: None.

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