Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on Tuesday criticized the University of Memphis for awarding additional funds to educators as a part of its “Eradicating Systemic Racism and Promoting Social Justice Initiative.”
The new initiative will provide a $3,000 stipend to professors who alter their courses to incorporate “diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice” curriculum.
According to Blackburn, the university, which is taxpayer-funded, should be using courses to allow students to think for themselves, instead of promoting a certain set of ideals or concepts.
“The University should be encouraging their students to be independent thinkers, expanding their world view, learning how to be lifelong learners and respectful of all,” said Blackburn in a statement to Fox News.
“Taxpayer dollars should not be used to fund a woke social justice agenda.”
In order to be picked, faculty members must submit a detailed plan to describe their course of action when including the preferred curriculum. According to an email from university leaders, 15-20 faculty members will be selected for the program, starting during the upcoming semester.
The stipend opportunity is a portion of the larger measure “to identify areas in need of reform and change, and implement that change to take another step in the direction of realizing the hope of a community defined by equality and justice.”
According to the Washington Free Beacon, which first reported the class transition, many faculty and staff members of the university have questioned the decision, as many higher-education institutions continue to balance financial factors from the coronavirus pandemic.
“Leadership at the University of Memphis should be ashamed for bribing professors to advance this useless teaching,” Congressman Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) told the Free Beacon. Students are better prepared for professional careers if they learn the three R’s—reading, writing, and arithmetic—instead of woke activism.”
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Cooper Moran is a reporter for The Star News Network. Follow Cooper on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Sen. Marsha Blackburn” by Gage Skidmore CC BY-SA 2.0. Background Photo “University of Memphis” by University of Memphis.
