A senior Wisconsin state representative who oversees the state’s colleges and universities wants answers about a new course that questions “The Problem of Whiteness.”
The class, scheduled to be taught during the spring semester at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, drew the ire of state Rep. Dave Murphy (R), chairman of the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities.
Murphy told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he doesn’t want to micromanage the university system, but he has directed his staff to search through courses offered by state universities this semester to ensure “they’re legit.”
{mosads}Murphy’s staff will not look through courses offered in hard sciences and business-related departments. But they will comb through the humanities looking for classes that might not be offering what he termed “legitimate education.”
The course will be taught by Damon Sajnani, an assistant professor in the university’s African Cultural Studies department. In a course description on the university’s website, Sajnani writes the class “aims to understand how whiteness is socially constructed and experienced in order to help dismantle white supremacy.”
The course “considers how race is experienced by white people.” Students will read works by W.E.B. Du Bois and Ta-Nehisi Coates, among other titles, the university said in a statement.
“We believe this course, which is one of thousands offered at our university, will benefit students who are interested in developing a deeper understanding of race issues. The course is a challenge and response to racism of all kinds,” the university said.
The course title comes from Richard Wright, the African-American author who wrote “Black Boy,” “Native Son” and other landmark novels. Wright, who spent much of his adult life in France, was asked about the “Negro problem” in America in the years after World War II.
“There is no Negro problem in the United States,” Wright replied. “There’s only a white problem.”
Murphy has questioned the university’s relationship with the professor, who tweeted several controversial comments, including one questioning whether the killings of Dallas police officers was a beginning of the “uprising.”
“If UW-Madison stands with this professor,” Murphy wrote, “I don’t know how the university can expect the taxpayers to stand with UW-Madison.”
Sajnani shot back on Twitter: “White supremacist backlash claiming no need for my course proves the need for my course.”
Wisconsin Republicans have made something of a habit of threatening to cut funding from the state’s flagship university over courses they find objectionable. Earlier this year, the number two Republican on Murphy’s committee told the university system’s chancellor and regents that their budget next year would depend in part on what they thought of a professor who assigned students to read an essay on gay sexual preferences.