The University of Minnesota used a federal grant from the National Institutes of Health to research and address what it called a “Whiteness pandemic.”
The project, which launched in 2021, aimed to provide “Whiteness pandemic resources for parents, educators, and other caregivers.” The National Institute of Mental Health awarded the University of Minnesota $279,271 toward the effort, which had a deadline of June 2023, according to the NIMH website.
Racism remains an “epidemic” and even a “pandemic” according to the UM website. The professors, graduate students, and one undergraduate research assistant write that the so-called “Whiteness pandemic” is “driving the racism pandemic.”
“Whiteness refers to culture not biology: the centuries-old culture of whiteness features colorblindness, passivity, and White fragility, which are all covert expressions of racism common in the United States,” the website reads.
The website dictates how to “halt and reverse” this pandemic.
“If you were socialized into the culture of Whiteness during childhood it is not your fault, but as an adult it is now your responsibility to self-reflect, re-educate yourself, and act,” the website reads. “If you are a White adult, antiracist action involves an ongoing process of self-reflection in order to develop a healthy positive White identity while engaging in courageous antiracist parenting/caregiving.”
Recently, the website started circulating on X, prompting criticism of the racial commentary. Rhyen Staley, research director at Defending Education, commented on the site to the Washington Examiner.
“This far-left programming at a major public university is another example of how ingrained DEI is in higher education and is not going away any time soon,” Staley said. “It is not only concerning that these programs appear to still be up and running, but that absurd ideas like ‘whiteness’ also gain legitimacy through dubious activist-academic ‘scholarship.’ Universities must end this nonsense yesterday.”
Professors from other universities also criticized the website.
“A University of Minnesota website is moving from woke to delirious insomnia in a website’s message for people to be reeducated to fight ‘the Whiteness Pandemic…in this racialized society,’” Jonathan Turley of George Washington University wrote on X.
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“According to the University of Minnesota, the U.S. is suffering through a ‘Whiteness Pandemic.’ Whites are the only group against whom it remains culturally acceptable to direct such nasty, derogatory language,” Jonathan Barth of Arizona State University wrote on X. “And people wonder why there’s a backlash from Gen Z white men?”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the University of Minnesota for comment.