Some of you are going to hate me for doing this, but below is the text of a letter written by a Nursing student who decided to transfer from UA due to her experience at UA with a Neo-Marxist professor. Here is a link to an 1819news.com piece that came out today about her letter:
https://1819news.com/news/item/nursi...exism-and-lies
I noticed that Stuart Bell did not affirm that UA still supports Equity when asked about UA's support for DEI at a recent press conference. He only affirmed support for Diversity and Inclusion. Seems like Bell now realizes that he allowed a Trojan Horse into UA's campus when he allowed them to set up an Office of DEI. Surely, UA admin would prefer the state play bad cop and legally get rid of this Trojan Horse at UA and other schools across the state. Please contact your legiscritter and demand an end to tax payer funded DEI in higher ed at Alabama.
Dr. Bell,
I am writing to inform you of several concerns about a class I took this past spring, AEL 667 with Dr. Nirmala Erevelles. This class was supposed to cover: Multicultural and Social Education for Leadership Personnel. I was a student in the EdD in Instructional Leadership, concentration in Nursing Education program. I have withdrawn to pursue a DNP at another school due to my experience in this course.
My concerns began the first meeting we had with Dr. Erevelles. In this program, we meet once a semester on campus for orientation. Dr. Erevelles informed us that she taught CRT courses at the school, but that this course would not focus on Critical Race Theory. At the beginning of our first meeting, she informed us that we all have racial biases, and that she noticed when she walked into the auditorium that we all looked at her because she was "brown". She also asked us if anyone in our class pursues or works in ministries or volunteers. I raised my hand, as a nurse, service is critical to my personal and professional life. Again, we were informed that we were racist because this is "othering" people.
At our first online meeting, Dr. Erevelles immediately began attacking Governor DeSantis and telling the class that the state is going through syllabi and arresting professors for teaching CRT or LGBTQ issues. As a Floridian, I informed the class this is not true. We were surprised to learn however, that she does not have oversight on her syllabus and no one is monitoring the course. She told us she is allowed to teach whatever she wants. She also stated she would teach us how to subvert laws and teach CRT concepts in states where it is illegal.
The first text she had us read, Fresh Fruit: Broken Bodies, by Seth Holmes repeatedly refers to pro-Marxist philosophers and CRT concepts. One of the more alarming ideas in this text is that healthcare workers should overlook Triqui marriage practices because they often marry 14-year-old girls to 18-year-old men so we shouldn't contact the Department of Children and Family Services if a 14-year-old from this group comes in pregnant. Doing so would be ignoring their culture and othering.
At our next meeting, Dr. Erevelles discussed disability issues. One of the slides she posted stated, "Fifty percent of people killed by police are disabled". This is an outright lie and premised upon the fact that disability now extends to almost every person because obesity, anxiety, heart disease, diabetes and depression are considered disabilities according to the ADA. As the wife of a Police Officer, I immediately pointed out that this type of rhetoric is what rioters have used to incite violence against Police and she needs to consider removing that statement from her slides.
The last text we were required to read in this class is the most alarming. Gender: A Graphic Guide, discusses topics such as Intersex People who think they have different chromosomes than XX and XY. It also discusses the idea that behaviors and actions influence hormones so if you act differently than your gender, your biological gender will change. And then there's this statement: "The anger of white men can be linked to the cultural promise that they can be anything and have anything, and the sense that they've had that future taken away from them". It is an attack on white heterosexual men and women throughout the text.
There is more, the main text for this course is all pro-Marxist propaganda. I brought up these concerns to Dr. McKnight, but I was told that Dr. Erevelles is a pro-Marxist theorist and she teaches from that perspective. I refused to attend Dr. Erevelles' last meeting and asked for an "Incomplete". While I read the material, I am not giving merit to this nonsensical course by spending any more time on it.
If I had known that Alabama was so heavily steeped in CRT and Marxism, I never would have applied. Dr. Erevelles teaches 2 more courses in the EdD program and I cannot continue to be called a racist or read propaganda. These concepts promote hate, racism, sexism and lies. No part of the class had any assignments or focus on leadership or multicultural leadership.
I am respectfully requesting my tuition back for this class. This class was billed as a leadership course but only contained pro-Marxist and CRT concepts. The past two semesters have cost a considerable amount. My cohort approached your DNP program at Alabama to see if we could transfer any of the courses and they refused, even the Statistics course would not transfer. It was surprising that they would not accept any courses that were taught by Alabama. I was able however, to find a school that would accept two of the courses I have taken into their DNP program and I will finish my doctorate with them.
I hope you are as alarmed as I was that this is being taught at your school. I am lucky to live in a state where we have accountability for what we teach. As a nursing instructor, we are also accountable for student outcomes. This seems to be lacking in the Education Department at Alabama.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Sarah Budde, MBA, MSN, RN, CEN
SARAH BUDDE | OWNER
Budde Solutions LLC.
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