AMHERST – The University of Massachusetts has turned a corner and begun to more explicitly prescribe political attitudes and views that students – and faculty – at its flagship Amherst campus must not only study but embrace, critics say.
The school, in recent guidelines sent to teachers on constructing new courses or updating old ones, is pushing a "social justice agenda," according to Daphne Patai, a professor who has publicly objected to the policy. In an email, she said it's about "the explicit politicization of the guidelines so that they embody a particular political perspective, which evidently professors and students are expected to embrace."
Several Democratic political figures seem to be operating from the same playbook this spring, using their bully pulpits to advocate for increased racial and ethnic diversity, particularly when it comes to leading roles in critical national institutions.
The latest push for greater diversity came from Susan E. Rice, President Barack Obama's national security adviser, who on Wednesday urged international and public affairs graduates of Florida International University in Miami to demand a more diverse national security workforce.
