Weekly Briefing: How a diversity program ended in a book burning.

Georgia Southern had the best intentions for its first-year-experience program. How did it end in burning an author’s book? [Weekly Briefing] By Fernanda Zamudio-Suaréz Why a first-year diversity program prompted a book burning. [Image] Ron Coddington Georgia Southern University’s problem was clear. In the fall of 2018, students and campus leaders agreed that the college needed to do something about racist incidents on campus. ADVERTISEMENT [advertisement]( That semester, leaders commissioned a diversity report. After a presentation by a consultant about that report, Chris Caplinger, then-director of the university’s first-year-experience program, thought the program could become a forum for student discussions about diversity and inclusion, and the university decided that the first-year experience would include new requirements on diversity. Here’s the hitch: Budget cuts at Georgia Southern meant that instructors would not be paid to teach the courses — so far fewer professors signed up. The reductions meant bigger courses. Caplinger was removed from the first-year directorship, and the program was left without a leader. Fast forward to October 2019: Caplinger received a text that students were burning Make Your Home Among Strangers, the book assigned to the first-year program. That night, Jennie Capó Crucet, its author, had given a talk at Georgia Southern addressing white privilege, spurring the outburst. The incident [made headlines]( and drew comparisons with Nazi Germany. So how did Georgia Southern get from well-intentioned plans for improving diversity and inclusion to burning books? Our Lindsay Ellis worked with Lauren Fisher, a former Chronicle intern, to obtain faculty members’ reactions to the incident. Something seemed off. Some faculty members wrote that they had warned administrators that offering a diversity-and-inclusion course had to be done carefully. If not, the professors cautioned, the program could create more problems. But they never imagined a book burning. Lindsay’s records requests also turned up reviews from students who took the course, which were not included in her original story. Though a few students expressed appreciation, more of them urged professors to change the book, calling it "not relatable" and "racist." "We were all miserable, especially reading the book," one student wrote. Another said that "the idea to try and use a terrible book to teach us to be woke was a Dumpster fire." Several students extended their criticism to the class as a whole — calling it too focused on social justice and irrelevant to their lives on campus. Requiring the course in the future, one person said, would bring more backlash. The documents and Lindsay’s reporting revealed that the faculty’s warnings had been spot on: a diversity course, if not thoughtful, could go awry. The episode carries important lessons for campuses that are planning or executing diversity programming. Such courses can be tough to pull off, and expensive. Failure to invest time and money in these programs can have serious consequences. [Read Lindsay’s story here.]( Best of the rest. [Image] Ken Richardson - A Brown University clinical professor frequently testified against powerful corporations. In December 2017, Johnson & Johnson demanded a retraction his peer-reviewed paper. [Brown eventually removed him from the classroom](. - Money makes the world go ’round. It also rewards college presidents. Check out our [annual executive-compensation report]( to see how much presidents of private colleges were paid in 2017. Lagniappe. [Image] Ikon Images via AP - Learn. Finally, some etiquette tips for the modern era. [Here’s advice]( on how to flake on plans without losing your pals. - Read. [This resurfaced short story]( by Cynthia Ozick is about a woman in a Nazi concentration camp trying to conceal her baby from the guards. It’s short but powerful. - Listen. The soundtrack for the Netflix documentary American Factory by Chad Cannon, a classical-music composer, manages to be calming and haunting at once. [It sounds like a fever dream](. Bonus points if you’ve seen the documentary. - Watch. A Hidden Life. If you like long movies, beautiful scenes of the Austrian Alps, and stories about World War II objectors, [run to theaters]( to see Terrence Malick’s latest flick. I’ll be back in your inbox next week. In the meantime, send me your review of A Hidden Life, or anything else, at this address: fernanda@chronicle.com. 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