On May 1, the University Senate voted to take the important step of creating a social justice requirement within UConn’s curriculum. The new social justice requirement focuses on the one-credit “Anti-Black Racism” course (ABR) that has been offered as an elective since fall 2021.

Several senators also spoke to the possibility of offering multiple courses to fulfill the social justice requirement. ABR has already inspired and provided a template for other pop-up courses, including “Why the Jews? Confronting Antisemitism” and “Confronting Anti-Asian Racism.” All of these have the potential to build on and extend the foundation established by the ABR course and help us as a community to strive for a more equitable and inclusive university and broader society.

During the fall 2023-24 academic year, I will continue to fund ABR and other pop-up courses, which have proved to be highly popular electives taken by thousands of students.

Campus Reform reports, “According to UConn’s website, the fall 2022 version of the course was designed to instruct students about “foundational concepts related to Black consciousness, Black resistance, Black resilience, and intersectional solidarity.”

“Course objectives also included the ability to ‘[q]uestion the consequences of anti-Black racism in areas such as Black health and wellness; Black agency and resilience; and/or anti-Blackness in higher education.’ Students were also informed on how to ‘[l]ocate valuable resources throughout the University of Connecticut that work to disrupt anti-Black racism for the collective good.'”

UConn seems to have no issues with hate speech on campus as long as it is directed at conservatives. A conservative speaker was shouted down, robbed and attacked when trying to give a speech on campus in 2017.