Florida Professor Receives Harsh Criticism for “White Racism” Course

Florida Gulf University is offering a class this semester titled “White Racism.” Although racism is displayed regularly in the U.S., the class has been called controversial and garnered the professor 46 pages of emails, many of them openly racist.

Assistant Professor Ted Thornhill teaches the course and is also responsible for its design and title. Due to the nature and quantity of the emails two campus police officers were stationed outside of the class, which started on Tuesday. Despite the threats no incidents occurred.

According to the course description, the class will address “the concept of race; examine the racist ideologies, laws, policies, and practices that have operated for hundreds of years to maintain white racial domination over those racialized as non-white.” The class also plans to have discussion on ways to challenge racism and white supremacy.

Professor Thornhill, who has been teaching classes on white supremacy and racial inequality for nearly a decade, said that students have expressed to him they want more classes on race and racism. He says the negative response to the class and hate mail shows how much the course is needed.

In a written statement to media outlets Professor Thornhill stated, "My White Racism course is not anti-white; it is anti-white racism. Clearly, not all white people are racists; some are even anti-racist. However, all people racialized as white derive, in some measure, material and psychological benefits by virtue of being racialized as white.”

This is not the only class titled “White Racism” that has come under controversy and scrutiny. In 1995, Professor Noel A. Cazenave of UConn also received harsh criticism for his “White Racism” course. When responding to the argument that the class was offensive to white people, Professor Cazenave explained that race was an ideology used to justify race-based privilege and “the basic premises of the course is that the concept of race is bogus so there are no white people to offend.”