President Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget recently ordered all federal agencies to end sensitivity trainings that cover topics related to white privilege and critical race theory, arguing that these concepts are propaganda that divide. He later tweeted that critical race theory “was a sickness that cannot be allowed to continue.”
While this is another example of President Trump trying to persuade through bullying, most people view mandatory sensitivity training as punishment. Even the term “sensitivity” causes…..
Things seem to be getting back to normal at the University of Missouri after the resignation of Tim Wolfe as president and R. Bowen Loftin as chancellor. An interim president and chancellor have been appointed; the football team has split its past two games; and everyone is preparing for the mad rush of final exams, papers, presentations, and parties.
After a collective deep breath, how can Mizzou best harness the energy that prompted these changes to move towards a more…..
I cringed inwardly when I saw a tweet on DiversityInc’s Twitter feed congratulating a Fortune 500 corporation for educating its employees about gay history and strategies to recruit and retain people who are LGBTQ.
“How many times,” I thought to myself “have we left workshops like this feeling bored, disconnected, or a bit guilty?”
“Or even angry,” I thought after chatting with an experienced disability awareness trainer who was grumbling about having to co-lead a seven-hour workshop during which they…..
“People internalize negative messages”; “Stereotyping is hurtful”; and “Embrace differences”; — these are common messages dispensed during diversity training. Another common belief of us diversity practitioners is that conservatives don’t like embracing differences.
So I was surprised to find an opinion piece entitled “Embracing the Differences” on Townhall.com, a prominent conservative website. The column, written by Rich Tucker and posted on February 8, criticizes Hanna Rosin’s book “The End of Men.” He points out that it is unfair for her…..
How many times have we left some sort of diversity training feeling bored, disconnected, and perhaps a bit guilty (but not motivated to do anything about the guilt)? How might we increase the possibility that these experiences might result in real change? I recently led a session where ten people with visual impairments wrestled with these questions, and a summary of our thoughts appears below.
I began by splitting participants into three groups and asked each group to come up…..