'Black Lives Matter' Course To Be Offered At Dartmouth College

There's Finally Going To Be A 'Black Lives Matter' College Course
NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 13: Thousands of protestors converge on Manhattan's Washington Square Park to march through the Manhattan to protest the police violence on December 13, 2014 in New York, United States. Protestors shout slogans as Hands up, dont shoot, Black lives matter and I cant breathe during the march. (Photo by Mustafa Caglayan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 13: Thousands of protestors converge on Manhattan's Washington Square Park to march through the Manhattan to protest the police violence on December 13, 2014 in New York, United States. Protestors shout slogans as Hands up, dont shoot, Black lives matter and I cant breathe during the march. (Photo by Mustafa Caglayan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

“If colleges cannot address current events in an intellectually rigorous manner then what are they good for?”

Mary K. Coffey, Dartmouth College’s Art History department chair, asks a valid question -- and one that her school’s students, faculty and administration plan to answer.

Dartmouth is set to offer a course titled “10 Weeks, 10 Professors: #BlackLivesMatter,” centered around racial inequality and violence in America.

‘The Dartmouth’ student newspaper reports that professors across more than 10 academic disciplines, from the humanities to geography to mathematics, will come together for an interdisciplinary approach to modern and historic perspectives of America’s racial climate.

According to Dartmouth geography professor Abigail Neely, the course was originally born from a Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning workshop that encouraged discussion of events that took place in Ferguson, Missouri following the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown.

“The course has the potential to be revolutionary insofar as the students who take it will come away with a wide ranging critical framework for thinking through not only what happened in Ferguson (and elsewhere), but also why we continue to see so much violence perpetrated against poor people of color,” Coffey told The Huffington Post. “Having the ability to address the why question will make these students capable of thinking about change, alternatives, or forms of activism that might have a revolutionary impact.”

The creative curricular development comes on the heels of recent on-campus student activism and Dartmouth community protest, and in cooperation with members of faculty and administration dedicated to addressing student concerns.

“It reflects faculty support for student activism over the past several years around issues of inclusion, social justice, and campus climate,” professor Coffey explains. “Those students took risks to raise these issues on campus. Their work has generated interest in these issues within the student body. And it has given faculty who are dedicated to these concerns a new sense of purpose and motivation.”

The course is scheduled to begin during the university’s upcoming spring term.

Before You Go

commecoco / Instagram
A protester stands in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC before a march agains police violence on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014.
lillyfromphilly / Instagram
Young protesters hold signs in Freedom plaza on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014.
jmgiordanophoto / Instagram
A protestor in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014.
carlosfmcknight / Instagram
Protestors in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014.
velovixen / Instagram
Protesters gather in Freedom Plaza for a march to the capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014.
jennrlyspeaking / Instagram
Protesters gather in Freedom Plaza before a march to the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014.
wellexaminedlife / Instagram
Protestors in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014.
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014
tnxxigamma / Instagram
Protestors pose for a photo in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014.
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014
kmoliver / Instagram
Protestors in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec, 13, 2014.
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014
Kate Sheppard / The Huffington Post
Protesters march towards the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014
katiemcinnis / Twitter
Georgetown Law students protest at Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014.
hughadam / Instagram
Protesters in Freedom Plaza in Washigton, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014.
jarchine / Instagram
Protestors gather in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014
handsum_lorde / Instagram
Protestors gather in Freedom Plaza before marching to the U.S. Capitol on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014 in Washington, DC.
thekjmoran / Twitter
Al Sharpton speaking to protesters gathered in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014.
thekjmoran / Twitter
Samaria Rice, mother of Tamir Rice speaks to people gathered in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014.
ebostopolous / Instagram
Protesters march towards the U.S Capitol building on Saturday Dec. 13, 2014 in Washington, DC.
instacmr / Instagram
Filmmaker Spike Lee participates in a march in the U.S. Capitol building on Saturday, Dec. 13, 204 in Washington, DC.
dickulous / Instagram
Protestors march down Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, DC on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014.
Close

What's Hot