‘ Deadlines’ and results can be dangerous to minority, North Dakota State U. website says
Immigrants do best without “rigid laws”, “deadlines for projects and examinations”, and graded research according to a since-deleted “diversity” section for North Dakota State University’s executive department.
The” supporting diversification” website for the architectural department draws from various sources on “grading for capital” and” culturally responsive teaching”. However, the site has since been removed following College Fix complaints and professional orders from President Donald Trump relating to “diversity, capital, and participation”.
It now returns an” Error 404 page”. According to a , College Fix review, the page appears to have vanished sometime in the first week of February or the middle of January. Prior to that, President Donald Trump had issued executive orders aimed at DEI within the federal government and education. The Fix visited the page in January, when it was still active.
An email from Interim Dean Alan Kallmeyer on Monday morning that included similar inquiries and whether the diversity page’s removal was as a result of President Donald Trump’s directives on DEI in higher education.
The public university’s page, which highlighted of the college’s” Bronze Award from the American Society for Engineering Education Diversity Recognition Program” provided” Seven Best Teaching Practices to Support Minority Students”.
Some suggestions included creating “open-ended assignments” or reading more about diversity in the engineering field, but others urged professors to refrain from letting incorrect answers on homework affect a student’s grade.
The third suggestion reads,” Always allow your students to fail in the class without failing the class.” By allowing students to make mistakes on their homework without having it negatively affect their final grade, you are creating a positive environment while preparing students for the final summative assessments.
This is related to another suggestion, to “provide” “flexibility”, since” ]s ] tudents from underrepresented groups are more likely to be affected by classes that grade attendance or have rigid rules and deadlines for assignments and exams”.
The College Fix reached out to engineering professor Trung Le, the chair of the college’s executive committee, for feedback on the standards and how they might impact the training of future engineers. The Fix inquired about the potential repercussions of not using deadlines because engineers will have to follow them in their future positions. In the last month, he did not respond to two emails and a phone call.
The College Fix emailed Dilvin Habib, the senior director of access and opportunity, for NDS U’s” Center for Community and Belonging. In the past week, she did not respond to an email.
The Heritage Foundation’s senior research fellow in education policy criticized the diversity regulations, however.
No, colleges shouldn’t be imposing such standards, Jonathan Butcher told The Fix in an emailed media statement, specifically in reference to allowing students to do poorly on their homework without falling behind in a class.
He said such a rule” is an example of the soft bigotry of low expectations.”
According to Butcher, professors should “hold students to high standards by holding them accountable for their work.”
He also criticized the idea of” open-ended assignments” for engineering students”. Students should be given specific instructions” so that they” understand the consequences if they cut corners or their work is erroneous, Butcher said.
It is not a school’s job to protect students from ideas that they disagree with, he said, just as it is not a school’s job to protect students from bad grades.
He said,” A likely negative outcome is that students will not learn the material they need to know to succeed in school or the workplace,” while making a comment about the standards.
Other professors have argued that” traditional grading “harms racial minorities.
For example, Alex Jennings at the University of Pittsburgh uses” contract grading. The concept enables students to establish their own standards for grades.
According to Jenkins,” traditional grading systems don’t typically give much room for alternative ways of knowing or learning styles, so they only really prioritize a white dominant and ableist, neurotypical standard of knowledge and language.” If you aren’t a white, cisgendered, able bodied and minded person, things are going to look different for you.”
MORE: NDSU pledge warns against “violence in language.”
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