Butler University Changes Anti-Trump Course Description after Outcry

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Academia loves to offer us “teachable moments.” Now, it appears, Butler University is having one.

Butler, located in the politically-red state of Indiana, had a college course on U.S. democracy. However, part of the course description was critical of President Donald Trump, “Donald J. Trump won the U.S. Presidency despite perpetuating sexism, white supremacy, xenophobia, nationalism, nativism, and imperialism.”

After some outcry and criticism, the university has changed the course description to the following:

“This course offers a broad historical, political, and critical communication studies approach to understanding the rise of Donald Trump as a political and social phenomenon. The course draws from the widely circulated Trump Syllabi (per the Chronical of Higher Education and Public Books) crowd sourced by some of the nation’s leading scholars in American Political Science and history, demography, cultural studies, sociology, and more. The course will provide context and depth for student citizens as we look to historical and current texts by renowned authors as well as read excerpts from Trump’s own The Art of the Deal. Students will potentially attend, as participant observers, campus and community events to witness ongoing responses to Trump’s presidency and campaign. To instill disciplinary diversity, the course will invite faculty from across campus to guest lecture.”