Sure — you may be adept at science, technology, engineering or mathematics; but how’s your Black Feminism aptitude? A prestigious research institution can help you level up.

Stanford University has announced a new certificate available to doctorate students and postdoctoral fellows. The school’s Office of Inclusion, Community and Integrative Learning (ICIL) describes it thusly:

In solidarity with [Stanford’s] mission value of diversity, equity, and inclusion, the ICIL office is offering a Certificate in Critical Consciousness and Anti-Oppressive Praxis (CCC&AOP) for Ph.D. students and postdoctoral scholars.

In addition to working your mathematical magic or scientific sorcery, you can oppose oppression — of a certain sort:

While grounded in critical theory and Black Feminism, the goal of this certificate is to educate and prepare trainees with the tools necessary to navigate a dynamic future from a position of knowledge, empathy, and justice. Specifically, this program is targeted to individuals in STEM fields.

Stanford’s site lists CCC&AOP resources:

• Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination
• Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy
• Effects of Perceived Discrimination on Mental Health and Mental Health Services Utilization Among Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Persons
• Fund Black Scientists
• Disrupting Postsecondary Prose: Toward a Critical Race Theory of Higher Education
• How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective
• Pedagogy of the Oppressed
• Racism without Racists: Colorblind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America
• Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity

Also recommended: “Hoodrat to Headwrap: A Decolonized Podcast.”

Combining STEM and social justice isn’t exactly a novel move. Education has accepted a new mission as ideology has entered myriad American arenas:

California’s ‘Social Justice Academy’ Primes Students for Success — They Just Can’t Read or Do Math

University Hires Social Justice Center to Help Top Staff Embrace ‘White Inferiority’

University President Sends a Letter Announcing the School’s Top Priority: Racial Justice and Equity

Professor: Cancer Researchers Should Show Their Faces to Prove They Aren’t White

Mental Health Journal’s Article on ‘Parasitic Whiteness’ Laments There’s ‘Not Yet a Permanent Cure’

Scientific American: The Racist Myth of Binary Sex Wasn’t Invented ‘Til Nearly 1800

Back to Stanford, it’s impressively adroit at making woke waves. While guest speaker and Fifth Circuit Appellate Judge Kyle Duncan faced a disruptive student mob recently, DEI dean Tirien Steinbach questioned whether the “juice” of free speech is “worth the squeeze.”

As for testimonies in praise of the Certificate in Critical Consciousness and Anti-Oppressive Praxis, they’re offered online.

From an Education Ph.D. candidate:

“It is amazing to have a safe space to interrogate our own beliefs and biases as well as learn from others who are further ahead in the process of eliminating racist and oppressive ideologies. As a woman of color, I find the space to be refreshing…”

Courtesy of an Environmental Fluid Mechanics doctorate student:

“I feel more informed on everything from my personal identity to positionality to systematic oppression to effective communication to available resources at Stanford and in literature. I’m far more self-aware…”

Per a Stanford Prevention Research Center postdoctoral scholar:

“The CCC&AOP program provided me with communication strategies to discuss historical and contemporary oppressive infrastructures. … My experience has encouraged me to pursue more interdisciplinary collaborations in my research.”

“While I learned many skills necessary for leadership before this program, only now am I acquiring the sufficient social context to affect just and sustained change,” writes a Civil and Environmental Engineering candidate.

Scientific and mathematical advancement are critical to America’s future; but evidently, so is social justice. In our enlightened era, Stanford and other citadels of methodical study are dropping science where it counts:

Science Journal Decries Racism in Geology, Claims Black People Are Too Scared to Hold Hammershttps://t.co/TieQtKBNKE

— Alex Parker (@alexparker1984) July 14, 2021

-ALEX

See more content from me:

State University Launches ‘Anti-Black Racism’ Minor

Professor Uncovers the White Supremacy of Organized Pantries

Wokeness for the Win: Colleges Celebrate ‘Womxn’s History Month’

Find all my RedState work here.

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