Oregon State University will implement a required online course in social justice next Fall. The five module online course deals with issues of “diversity, inclusion and social justice.” The goal of the program is to equip students with knowledge about the history of social justice in Oregon as well as at the university.
The course will be similar to AlcoholEdu. The first two modules provide a background of social justice. Module C explains the expectations of all OSU students in relation to social justice.
The fourth module lays out the resources available to students to “amplify their learning and incorporate the pursuit of social justice within their university experience.”
There has been significant push-back against the course, its presentation and its required status for all students. Reason.com decried the course as “indoctrination via non-classroom training model.”
Outside of push-back against the “social justice” concept, the online format is what has met the most resistance. Questions about the success rate and viability of online courses have been addressed in the past, and with a topic as sensitive as social justice, many fear that a lack of face-to-face interaction will pose more problems than solutions.
“I can understand the impulse it’s trying to meet,” Dan HoSang, an associate professor in the Political Science department at UO, said. “We have to see if an online course will work.”
HoSang questioned whether students will fully engage with an online course. “The nature of these courses is we want people to engage them with an open mind,” said HoSang. “Asking students to go into something without asking them to think about that is a disservice.”
Oregon State is not alone in its rolling out of academic programs to promote understanding of diversity on campus. The University of Missouri, which erupted last year in response to a racist epithet drawn on a wall, is requiring all incoming freshman to take an online diversity course; an idea that, according to the Washington Post, was rejected by some of the activists as nothing more than an attempt to polish the veneer of the institution.
In March, UM announced that students in the College of Arts and Sciences will be required to take three “diversity intensive” courses in order to graduate.
The University of Oregon currently has no plans to bring a similar course to Eugene.