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Every freshman at Syracuse University must take SEM 100, a six-week seminar. Though the course description doesn’t say it, the class is meant to teach freshmen about racism and other forms of oppression in hopes of changing SU’s campus culture. Simply put, the class is designed to be an introduction to anti-racism.

University administrators implemented some changes to make SEM 100 more effective after #NotAgainSU, a movement led by Black students, protested SU’s response to racism on campus last year. But it’s still not enough.

Prior to this academic year, the course was set up like a book club. Students were supposed to read a book and come to class ready to discuss it. Last year, freshmen read “Lab Girl” by Hope Jahren, a memoir about gender discrimination in the STEM field and the stigma surrounding mental illness.

Very few students actually read the book, preventing the discussions from leading to any change, said Sofia de la Grana, a sophomore who’s currently a SEM 100 facilitator. This year, the program centers more on creating base knowledge around privilege and the history of marginalization. But there are still many flaws.

Freshmen don’t get a grade on their transcript for SEM 100 because it’s a zero-credit course. Instead, their grade is based on a pass or fail standard and becomes either 10% or 30% of their grade, depending on their college’s anchor course. All they have to do is pass.

“They have to at least have an incentive for students to give it their all, or else they are just going to show up and pass it,” de la Grana said. SEM 100 doesn’t give students in positions of power, whom the course is trying to reach, any reason to work hard. They can just show up, keep their camera off, submit work with minimal effort and be fine.

Ashtha Singh is a freshman who just finished the course. It’s ridiculous that the class is so much work and is intended to create uncomfortable conversations, but the university has made it worth essentially nothing, she said.

“It’s like, alright, now we see how (SU) really feel(s) about this,” Singh said.

Though the course does end up counting for about one credit’s worth of anchor class credits, that SEM 100 by itself is a zero-credit course is problematic. It tells students that the class matters less than other orientation seminars and is not worth an effort that counts toward their GPA in any meaningful way. For stressed freshmen, anything that’s not immediately harmful to their grades goes quickly to the bottom of their priorities.

The next, arguably bigger problem with the class is that it’s catered to white students at the expense of students of color. de la Grana believes the course functioned more as a lecture series to introduce privileged students to concepts rather than as a truly inclusive dialogue. In my class specifically, it felt like students of color were put on the spot to explain their experiences with microaggressions and racism to educate their white peers, myself included.

Singh felt as though much of the course was centered around white guilt, which she was responsible for relieving as a student of color in the class.

“I felt like I needed to give them a stamp and be like, ‘oh no, you’re not racist, don’t worry!’” she said. Students of color are not responsible for clearing the consciences of the white students in their class, and it’s not okay to make them feel like they are.

A lot of the conversations were potentially traumatic to students of color, and there isn’t enough comfort in the class to discuss them, Singh said. Racial trauma is a real mental health concern for many people of color. Having to listen to a peer describe their racist beliefs or actions can make marginalized students feel unwelcome in this community.

It would be unfair to say that SEM 100 is an entirely bad class. Both de la Grana and Singh think it’s better than nothing, and that it lays a groundwork for the conversations about race we need to be having on campus.

My own SEM 100 facilitator said the best part of the class is self-reflection. Students think about the readings on their own time and in discussions after class, analyzing the role they play in oppression and othering.

But we have a long way to go as a university. SEM 100 is a good starting point for our journey to do better, but we have barely passed the starting line. Changing our community starts with a class that makes students work hard for credit, and where privileged students begin to feel uncomfortable in their position of power. And we must not engage in anti-racism work at the expense of students of color.

Megan Cooper is a freshman political science and magazine news and digital journalism major. Her column appears bi-weekly. She can be reached at mpcooper@syr.edu.

Published on November 4, 2020 at 9:21 pm