UT-Austin Business School Profs Advised to Alert Students About Any ‘Curriculum-Induced Trauma’
“Some readings and other content in this course will include topics that some students may find offensive and/or traumatizing.”
It’s just amazing that this sort of thing has become so commonplace in higher education today.
The College Fix reports:
Business school professors advised to warn students about possible curriculum-induced trauma
University of Austin at Texas business school professors have been advised to warn their students about possible curriculum-induced trauma.
The recommendation was sent by Ty Henderson, associate dean for undergraduate programs for UT-Austin’s McCombs School of Business, who emailed the school’s business professors a 12-page syllabus template on Wednesday obtained by The College Fix.
The “content warning” section included the following suggested paragraph:
Our classroom provides an open space for the critical and civil exchange of ideas. Some readings and other content in this course will include topics that some students may find offensive and/or traumatizing. I’ll aim to forewarn students about potentially disturbing content and I ask all students to help to create an atmosphere of mutual respect and sensitivity.
The syllabus template also proposed that scholars include a “land acknowledgment”:
I would like to acknowledge that we are meeting on the Idigenous [sic] lands of Turtle Island, the ancestral name for what is now North America. Moreover, I would like to acknowledge that Alabama-Coushatta, Caddo, Carrizo/Comecrudo, Coahuiltecan, Comanche, Kickapoo, Lipan Apache, Tonkawa, Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo, and all the American Indian and Indigenous Peoples who have been or have become a part of these lands and territories in Texas.
Additional syllabus recommendations included statements on diversity and inclusion and preferred gender pronouns:
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
It is my intent that students from all diverse backgrounds and perspectives be well served by this course, that students’ learning needs be addressed, and that the diversity that students bring to this class can be comfortably expressed and be viewed as a resource, strength and benefit to all students. Please come to me at any time with any concerns.PERSONAL PRONOUN PREFERENCE
Professional courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect to individuals and topics dealing with differences of race, culture, religion, politics, sexual orientation, gender, gender variance, and nationalities. Class rosters are provided to the instructor with the student’s legal name. I will gladly honor your request to address you by a name different than what appears on the roster, and by the gender pronouns you use. Please advise me of this preference early in the semester so that I may make appropriate changes to my records.
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Comments
“we are meeting on the Idigenous [sic] lands of Turtle Island, the ancestral name for what is now North America.”
Almost lost my lunch.
North America had hundreds of tribes; was this the term they all used?
Isn’t that disrespectful of the vast majority of the “Idigenous” people?
What’s next?
Homage to the days when all the animals talked?
The Dreamtime?
Are students really this fragile?
To them, the idigenous are all alike.
“Are students really this fragile?” No. But our default setting has been to believe that someone who claims they’ve been traumatized has, in fact, experienced trauma.
But then a few discovered that claiming trauma would grant them authority they would not otherwise have had, and especially so if the putative cause of the trauma was that someone said something disagreeale.
So, there remains no way to know for sure who’s actually been traumatized and who’s using the claim as a convenient weapon to shut others up. BUT, it’s long past time the default setting, sans objective evidence, changed to “I don’t believe you.” And, really, if you are truly so delicate you can’t stand to hear what you disagree with you without flying to a rage then perpas should insert earplugs to protect yourself. Or employ a flapper to lover your earflaps when a potential speech-threat is detected.
Which is unfair to those who truly have experienced trauma, but, that’s the consequence of “Crying Wolf” just a few too many times. Further, so long as “crying trauma” works, one can expect it to continue; thus, whatever can be done to discourage such behavior (openly mocking your claims perhaps, but at a minimum not rewarding them) would help.
What the heck does any of that have to do with business?
Absolutely nothing. But, I suppose, the warnings are needed because one size fits all, you know. Those taking Styrofoam majors are the ones who easily have their cages rattled, so, the administration says that those taking real majors need the same delicate treatment.