White professor teaches 'problem of whiteness' course at Arizona State Lauren Clark, Campus Correspondent, on Jan 22, 2015 at 2:19 PM EDT
•Reading for the problem of whiteness course includes 'Everyday Language of White Racism' and 'The Possessive Investment in Whiteness.'
•Eighteen students are currently enrolled at the time of publication.
At Arizona State University (ASU), students can now learn about the “problem of whiteness” in America.
The public university is offering an English class to its students this semester called “Studies in American Literature/Culture: U.S. Race Theory & the Problem of Whiteness.”
According to the class description on ASU’s website, students will be reading The Possessive Investment in Whiteness, Critical Race Theory, Everyday Language of White Racism, Playing in the Dark, and The Alchemy of Race and Rights.
At time of publication, 18 students were enrolled in the course offered at ASU’s Tempe campus. Students can receive three credits for successfully completing the course.
The class syllabus is not available online.
"I think it shows the significant double standard of higher education institutions," James Malone, a junior economics major, told Campus Reform. "They would never allow a class talking about the problem of 'blackness.' And if they did, there would be an uproar about it. But you can certainly harass people for their apparent whiteness."
The course, first reported by the Pundit Press, is taught by Lee Bebout, an assistant professor of English at ASU. According to his faculty page, critical race theory is one of his research interests.
Bebout, who is white, has previously taught classes titled “Transborder Chicano Literature,” “Adv Studies Theory/Criticism,” and “American Ethnic Literature,” among others.
Campus Reform was unable to reach Bebout by phone in time of publication.
