Well this is unexpected:
CAMPUS REFORM – The University of Maryland at College Park announced Friday a new diversity support group to create a “safe space” for white students to discuss their feelings about “interactions with racial and ethnic minorities.”
The support group, called “White Awake,” will help white students who may “sometimes feel uncomfortable and confused before, during, or after interactions with racial and ethnic minorities.”
“This group offers a safe space for White students to explore their experiences, questions, reactions, and feelings,” the description explains. “Members will support and share feedback with each other as they learn more about themselves and how they can fit into a diverse world.”
The description asks students if they want to “improve [their] ability to relate to and connect with people different from [themselves]” or if they want to become a better “ally.” The new group is now one of four in the university’s “Diversity Issues” program series.
The group is being led by Noah Collins, who works for the UMD Counseling Center, and will be held once a week. Collins specializes in group therapy and is interested “especially in the areas of racial and cultural awareness,” according to his faculty bio.
As Campus Reform points out, some students aren’t happy about this at all:
I am ashamed over the execution of white awake nor do I fully understand its clause. “How they can fit into a diverse world”? Why do they need to attend therapy sessions on how to be a decent human being in society? Why do they need to have these sessions to learn how to coexist? pic.twitter.com/AaPOLz05vu
— Alysa Conway (@LoveConweezy27) September 13, 2018
But according to Inside Higher Ed, the actual intent of the group is to make white students better allies of minorities and says the misleading flyer that you see above has been discontinued by the counseling center:
The counseling center at University of Maryland, College Park sponsors a group called “White Awake” — it’s a weekly meet-up for white students who want to better understand race and ask questions to be better “allies” for minorities.
But a flier advertising the group is earning criticism for being tone-deaf and vague. “Do you sometimes feel uncomfortable and confused before, during or after interactions with racial and ethnic minorities?” the flier asks.
The counseling center has decided to discontinue the ad — though it is not shutting down the group.
“We agree with the feedback that the flier was not clear enough in conveying the fact that the purpose of this group is to promote anti-racism and becoming a better ally,” the counseling center said in a statement to Inside Higher Ed. “We didn’t choose the right words for the flier, and we are going to incorporate the feedback we have received into a revision of it.”
So there you go. It really isn’t a ‘safe space’ where white people can complain about anti-white racism from blacks or other minorities or how the idea of ‘white privilege’ is being taken to ridiculous levels by SJWs everywhere. No, I don’t think this is the group for that, but then at this point I’m not sure exactly what it is.
However I will predict that this group, whatever it is, won’t last very long at all when the SWJs get through with it.