The University of Michigan-Dearborn has issued an apology for hosting a non-POC discussion group for white students to discuss being white.
Earlier this week, the school’s Center for Social Justice & Inclusion hosted a Zoom session where Black, Indigenous, and people of color were assigned to one group, and white students were assigned to a group for “non-POC.” The school says the all-white group was created in an effort to “gather and to discuss their experience as students on campus and as non-POC in the world.”
The group titled “Non-POC Cafe” was described as ”a space for students that do not identify as a person of color to gather and to discuss their experiences as students on campus and as non-POC in the world. Hosted by The Center for Social Justice & Inclusion.” The other group, titled “BIPOC Cafe,” was described as “a space for a student from marginalized racial/ethnic/ cultural communities to gather and to relate with one another and to discuss their experience as students on campus and as people of color in the world. Hosted by The Center for Social Justice & Inclusion.”
The university ended up issuing an apology for segregating its students. The statement was sent to Fox News. “The original intent was to provide students from marginalized communities a space that allowed for them to exist freely without having to normalize their lives and experiences, while also providing students that do not identify as persons of color the opportunity to deepen their understanding of race and racism without harming or relying on students of color to educate them. The events were never intended to be exclusive or exclusionary for individuals of a certain race. Both events were open to all members of the UM-Dearborn campus community,” wrote Beth Marmarelli, the school’s Executive Director of Communications and Marketing.
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Marmarelli added that anyone of any race could have attended either group but that the groups were created with the intent to ”create opportunities for all students to discuss their life experiences openly and honestly – for some, this might be an emotional experience.”
