I was made aware of a University of Wisconsin-Madison policy that mandates graduate students take a course that instills the university’s negative opinion of white students, then requires them to agree that whiteness means privilege. I sent a letter to UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank with a number of questions that need to be answered.

The course teaches that Critical Race Theory and Critical Race Feminism can help students understand privilege better and “how a regime of white supremacy and its subordination of people of color have been created and maintained in America… not merely to understand the vexed bond between law and racial power but to change it.” The course labels white/Caucasian, Christian, men, middle-or upper class, native English speakers, U.S. citizens, non-disabled, etc., as privileged groups in the United States.

I am appalled by the blatant attempt by UW-Madison to force students to agree with one set of beliefs to attend the University as a graduate student. Students deserve the opportunity to learn about different viewpoints and develop their own beliefs without being required to agree with one, narrow set of beliefs that the university tries to bestow upon them before they are allowed to register for courses.