MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Scott Walker says a University of Wisconsin-Madison calls titled “The Problem is Whiteness,” is “goofy” and “unusual,” but he’s stopping short of saying it should put UW’s funding in jeopardy.
Walker’s comments came after two Republican state lawmakers threatened to pull funding for UW if the class wasn’’t canceled. Rep. Dave Murphy, of Greenville, and frequent UW critic Sen. Steve Nass, of Whitewater, said offering the class in the spring 2017 semester was inappropriate and a waste of taxpayer money.
The African Cultural Studies department was offering the class by assistant professor Damon Sajnani. The online course description says the class “aims to understand how whiteness is socially constructed and experienced in order to help dismantle white supremacy.”
Murphy, who chairs the Assembly’s Committee on Colleges and Universities, said in a statement that he was concerned that UW-Madison finds it appropriate to offer a class “with the premise that White people are racist.”
He said the university must drop the class and called for Murphy to be fired.
“If UW-Madison stands with this professor, I don’t know how the university can expect the taxpayers to stand with UW-Madison,” Murphy said.
Walker, when asked Wednesday if the university should drop the class, said “That’s up to them.” Walker said he did not think “the governor should be telling people what classes they should or should’’t have.”
