University of San Diego - a Review
Student life consists not only of life in the dorms or residence life, but also student orientation and recreation. What USD can control in student life ends up being dedicated to DEI. The central administrative feature of residence life is living-learning communities (LLC), where students in an LLC must take a course that fulfills the Integration prong of the new Core Curriculum. Student orientation is one big indoctrination into the ideology of critical social justice.
Living-Learning Communities. Most classes that fulfill the Integration requirement for LLCs are infused with CSJ ideology. LLC themes--Advocate; Collaborate; Cultivate; Illuminate; and Innovate--imperfectly hide the DEI infiltration. The Advocate LLC’s can choose from courses like “Introduction to Changemaking”; “Writing as a Form of Advocacy”; and “Introduction to Ethnic Studies.” The Cultivate LLC can take classes like “Integrating Indigenous and Western Science.” Nearly every course is filled with the CSJ buzzwords like “civic engagement” or “participatory democracy” or “complex realities” or “social entrepreneurship.”[1]
Student Orientation. Students must arrive thinking that USD is filled with violent racists and haters of all aggrieved minorities. First students are grouped in Torero Circles via video calls. These Circles are grouped according to LLC and housing area. These circles cover several weeks of topics. Week 1 covers “diversity, inclusion and community” through a course designed to help students learn about key concepts related to identity, bias, power, privilege, and oppression, to understand the benefits of a diverse community, and to develop skills related to ally behavior, self-care, and creating inclusive spaces. Two additional weeks introduce students to alcohol issues and campus resources like recreation and university ministry.
But this week-long zoom unit is not enough. Students get another dose of DEI when they arrive on campus. They celebrated “Diversity, Inclusion, Social Justice & Changemaking Day” on August 30, 2021. Students engaged in dialogue about the urgent challenges of our day and how they will learn more about them at USD as defined by USD. Academic Day was August 31.
Conclusion. No one item makes up the experience of student life, but DEI dominates the university’s representations of what student life is about. Nowhere can students escape the ideology--not even in their dorms. DEI is the shroud for all things at USD, which intends to indoctrinate students in the tenets of this hateful ideology.
[1] https://www.sandiego.edu/learning-communities/llc/advocate/linked-courses.php