'Abolition Of Whiteness' Course At NYC Public University Has The Alt-Right Reeling

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The flavor-of-the-week *dumb liberal thing* currently peeving the Trump-emboldened right-bloggers of America? A poli-sci course called "Abolition of Whiteness" now open for fall enrollment at Hunter College, the Upper East Side's local branch of the public City University of New York (CUNY) system.

The class will be taught by Jennifer Gaboury, associate director of the school's Women and Gender Studies Program, twice a week for one hour and 15 minutes.

Gaboury's work examines "issues of masculinities, feminisms and politics," according to her bio on the Hunter College website, and she's "currently working on a project related to race and sex segregation in public bathroom facilities."

Patch reached out to Gaboury for a full explanation of the "Abolition of Whiteness" course title and content, but she didn't immediately respond to our call or email.

For what it's worth, though, the phrase "abolition of whiteness" has previously been used by race scholars not as a reference to literally ridding the Earth of white people, but to dismantling the "ness" they've acquired in modern society — their privilege, supremacy, oppressor status, etc.

That's not exactly the interpretation American rightbloggers are running with.

Conservative college news site Campus Reform uploaded a smoking gun-style screenshot Thursday of CUNY's fall 2017 listing for the "Abolition of Whiteness" course. A blogger at right-wing site PJ Media then picked up the story and added some lively commentary — accusing Hunter College of "outright advocating for genocide" and calling the course a sign that "violence, bigotry, fascism, everything evil you can think of is in style now on college campuses." And the Daily Caller piled on with some snark.

The stories' comment sections (and at least one Reddit thread) have gone reliably haywire.

An earnest Campus Reform commenter declared the course to be "as unacceptable as a burning cross in someone's yard." Another called it an "atrocity" that meant conservative Americans must seek "political separation through legal means." On a somewhat more lighthearted note, some guy called Gaboury a classic "libtard democrap," and another chick asked if the professor's final exam involved "giving all the white students a vial of cyondie and telling them to injest it [stet]."

The conversation devolved further among popular alt-right personalities on Twitter:

In response to Patch's request Friday for more details on the controversial Hunter College course, CUNY spokeswoman Deborah Raskin said this was the first she'd heard of anyone being angry about it.

Raskin said she'd try to get us some info on "Abolition of Whiteness" as soon as possible. However, she said, "Hunter is preparing for Tuesday's commencement so it is hard to reach people."

The class may just be starting to make waves now, but it's been offered — under the same name — since at least last fall, according to Hunter College course listings.

On-campus flyers advertising the 2016 iteration of "Abolition of Whiteness," multiple photos of which were posted to Reddit, described it like so:

This course offers an overview of whiteness studies in the United States, a subfield within critical race theory, focusing on concepts of consciousness, in/visibility, disavowal, and resentment drawing on texts from political science, history, literature, sociology, and philosophy. We’ll be examining how whiteness —and/or white supremacy and violence — is intertwined with conceptions of gender, race, sexuality, class, body ability, nationality, and age.

A petition for this course is on file with the College Senate so that it fulfills Pluralism and Diversity Parts B, C, or D.

Who would have thought the whiteness abolition movement would find a home base on East 68th Street between Park and Lex? Offhand, we can think of at least one neighbor up on East 82nd who may not be super chill with that.

Photo by Chris Hamby/Flickr