The Social Justice MA program at ASU West
left-wing social activism at the state university
What would you think if a state university offered a graduate degree in how to become a conservative activist? Or a graduate degree in Roman Catholic social philosophy? You’d probably say that state universities are not to be used for one political or religious party’s exploitation. And yet here we are.
ASU West is home to a degree named the MA Program in Social Justice and Human Rights. Before you think that students will learn about Hugo Grotius or John Locke on the nature of rights, take time to think again. There will be no John Finnis or Elizabeth Anscombe. Perhaps no Western thought at all. In a video distributed to YouTube and sent out on the ASU email list, prospective students will learn all about the program’s social activism. Needless to say, these are all from the far-left radical ideologies about race and gender.
The video, titled “What’s Your Social Justice Story,” involves interviews with former students who have gone on to jobs in activism. These include decolonizing curriculum, body autonomy, immigration and refugee activism.
“Social justice” initially sounds very promising. It might even be a phrase used in the Federalist Papers. But it no longer means anything James Madison would advance. As you investigate this term’s usage in our cultural setting, it just means using the Marxist and Freudian religions to analyze society and then apply cultural Marxism to society.
The webpage humanrightscareers.com says:
“For social justice to become a reality, four pillars must be built: human rights, access, participation, and equity. Social justice can’t be achieved without these four principles.”
Those all sound good, right? What areas of work does this include? The page tells us:
“Today, its [social justice] use has expanded significantly and applies to all parts of society. It’s seen through the lens of traits like race, class, sexuality, and gender.”
We all agree about human equality across these differences. But it is when we keep looking that we find this just means Marxist and Freudian religion. Racial and sexual identity is taken from these “prophets” and then applied to the oppressed and the oppressors.
There it is. The radical gender and race ideologies of the Marxist and Freudian religions. An entire graduate degree at ASU promotes this perspective as if it is a neutral and uncontested view. What happened to critical thinking and engaging with all ideas? It was replaced by Critical Theory. Are we allowed to question these assumptions at the state university?
