What’s in a Syllabus? The Keys to Undoing Academic Freedom, If We’re Not Careful

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | February 3, 2021 | Peter Bonilla

[karpov]

The syllabus is such a basic document that most of us tend not to think much about what goes into making one. What are its necessary ingredients? A listing of the required study and reading materials, obviously. Dates of important milestones, like term papers and exams, as well. Lecture schedules, weekly assignments, and a rubric on how the assignments and exams factor into overall grades.

Oh, and an acknowledgment—mandated by the institution—that your campus was built on land stolen from Indigenous peoples, and that your being there contributes to an ongoing intergenerational trauma.

Wait, what?

That particular hypothetical isn’t a hypothetical: It was considered for adoption by the University of Maryland’s (UMD’s) School of Public Policy as part of a broader statement on “Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging in the School of Public Policy.”

The proposed “Land Acknowledgement” stated:

We acknowledge that we are gathered on the stolen land of the Piscataway Conoy people and were founded upon the erasures and exploitation of many non-European peoples.

The proposed statement further invited students to avail themselves of university resources that can provide “a richer understanding of generations of racialized trauma rooted in the institution.”

To its credit, UMD has clarified that the School of Public Policy is not requiring faculty to use or affirm the Land Acknowledgement statement. Rather than dismiss it as a curiosity, however, it’s worth unpacking further, as we’re bound to see other statements like it.

Law professor Eugene Volokh, in a piece calling attention to the proposed UMD policy, ran down the various issues, including the legal issues, involved with such compelled statements:

[View from the Cheap Seats]

Conservatives must take control of every school board in America—Our schools are nothing but Marxist indoctrination centers. Take them all back now.

[Migraine]

The U should put up or shut up. That would be, “if that’s how you feel, the close the institution and hand it over to the team formerly known as redskins.” They could make several large casinos out of it. And it would be a lot less of a gamble to send your kids there.

[Organic Panic]

It is a scrap of paper they give you at the beginning of class so you know what you won’t be learning.