Researchers seek to challenge prospects with new anti-racism course

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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pennsylvania. Two students from Schreyer Honors College have co-designed and will teach a new course that will encourage fellow Schreyer scholars to discuss and challenge their own views on racism.

Maryah Burney, a Journalism Fellow, and Janiyah Davis, a Psychology and Criminology Fellow pursuing a Masters in Public Policy, will be the instructors of AFAM 297, Section 002: Anti-Black Racism in America, a course they designed by students who teach students. The three-credit course, which begins this fall, is open to all Penn State students, but Burney and Davis hope honored students will seriously consider it.

I just want us to be able to share with our students and say, here is what we have seen, here is what others have seen, here is some information on these issues. Let’s develop your worldview, talk about it, have these conversations, and challenge our own beliefs and thoughts, Burney said. Our goal is not to change people’s perspectives, but hopefully to give them more information that will encourage them to look at something from a different point of view.

To create the program, Burney and Davis sought advice and feedback from Ashley Patterson, assistant professor of education, and Efran Marimn, director of the Restorative Justice Initiative and the Social Justice Fellowship. Lynette Yarger, professor of information science and technology and associate dean for equity and inclusion at Schreyer Honors College, is their official advisor and professor for the course.

Students really need that cultural competence, and I think that’s the key that students believe is lacking, Yarger said. It’s not that (other) students are inherently racist towards them or that they have necessarily had a negative experience, but interacting with students who are not like them is somewhat superficial and sometimes difficult as we cannot not have that depth of communication. This is what I think students would like to feel more connected and part of the community and better understood.

The course was inspired by the discussions on racial unrest and injustice that Burney, Davis, and other students from the Multicultural Association of Schreyer Scholars (MASS) had in meetings within the student organization over the course of the last year.

We had always wanted to do something that specifically talked about racism and those kinds of issues within Honors College, Burney said. The problem we found was that people weren’t really interested because there was nothing they could get out of it in a tangible way. What we’ve heard from people is that if things like class credit were tied to discussions of racism and anti-darkness issues, especially in honor communities, a lot of people would be. more willing to sit down and have these conversations.

The course will include a final draft rather than a final exam, and Davis said she hoped to set up some sort of exhibition where the students’ final projects could be seen by a wider audience. One of the main goals of the course is to create an environment in which students and instructors can have honest and raw discussions about racism and learn from the perspective of those with backgrounds and experiences different from their own.

The course not only allows them to understand and connect with each other, but that’s also what I’m going to do, Davis said. Hope to get to know them and their backgrounds and better understand Penn State students and why we think the way they do.

To learn more about students teaching students, visittspsu.org.

About Schreyer Honors College

Schreyer Honors College promotes academic excellence with integrity, building a global perspective, and creating opportunities for leadership and civic engagement. Schreyer Fellows total nearly 2,000 students across the University. More than 15,000 scholarship recipients have graduated with honors from Penn State since 1980.

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