Teach-In: “Don't Say Gay;” “Don't Say Racism”

36 states are working on bans against teaching about racism, sexism, or the very existence of LGBTQ people. Such topics are defined as “divisive concepts.” These bans mostly focus on K-12 schools, but some lawmakers have sought to extend the ban to college and university campuses. We invite all members of the campus community to attend this teach-in as they can and participate in a series of discussions about systemic inequalities and education. 

 

9:30 -  Leslie Pearson: Why Do We Have Public Schools?: “Education as the Practice of Freedom” and What Current Ideological Attacks Assume About the Purpose of Public Education

Leslie Pearson is the Associate Director of the Center for Gender Equity

 

10:00 -  Rita Jones: Applying lessons from Dr. Beronda Montgomery and my life as a farm girl to dismantling white supremacist capitalist patriarchy

Dr. Jones is the Director of the Center for Gender Equity

 

10:30 - Anthony DiMaggio: CRT and the mainstreaming of white supremacy

Professor DiMaggio is a member of the Political Science Department

 

11:00 - Michelle LeMaster: Here First and Still Here: Native/Indigenous Americans, Sovereignty, and the Race Problem

Professor LeMaster is a member of the History Department

 

11:30 - Karen Pooley: DEI in Schools and Fair Funding

Professor Pooley is a member of the Political Science Department

 

12:00 - Nandini Deo & Terry-Ann Jones: Global Perspectives on Decolonizing Education

Professor Deo is a member of the Political Science Department

Professor Jones is a member of the Political Science Department and Africana Studies Program and the Director of Africana Studies

 

12:30 - Monica Najar:  What is the 1619 Project, and Why is it Melting Greenland?

Professor Najar is a member of the History Department and the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program and is the Director of the WGSS Program

 

1:00 - Esther Lee: NAACP in 2022

Esther Lee is a longtime activist in the Lehigh Valley and the former president of the Bethlehem NAACP

 

1:30 - Scott Burden: Exploring the Impact of Anti-LGBTQIA+ Legislation on Queer Students

Scott Burden is the Director of the Pride Center

 

2:00 - Vera Fennell: White Supremacy and the History of Higher Education: The Case of Political Science

Professor Fennell is a member of the Political Science Department