In an attempt to promote 'community engagement', Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, has developed an honors program that awards students a scholarship worth up to $2,800-- along with several other perks-- if they enroll in 'white privilege' and Black Lives Matter courses.
Students who gain admission into SHSU's Elliot T. Bowers Honor College are granted a wide variety of special benefits, from being allowed to enroll in select courses earlier than non-honors students to having access to a private computer lab and student lounge. They are also are eligible for special housing in Spivey Hall and Raven Village.
In addition, Honors College students are automatically eligible for the Bowers Scholarship.
Because personal self-reflection is so much better than impersonal self-reflection
According to the Elliot T. Bowers Honors College Summer/Fall 2017 Course List, "Understanding Whiteness: Historic and Contemporary Viewpoints on Privilege,” is a course requiring students to "educate others about white privilege through action research projects and community engagement initiatives" and "engage in personal self-reflection."
It's apparent that a great deal of thought went into this course, since most "self-reflection" does tend to be of the personal variety. The Elliot T. Bowers Honors College, for the record, happens to be the very same public institution of advanced learning that offers an honors course on Harry Potter (HONR 3331.02, to be precise).
Black Lives Matter, as taught by a white professor
The Black Lives Matter Honors College course, taught by Associate Professor Ervin Malakaj-- who, incidentally, happens to be white-- addresses white-on-black violence, mass incarceration and other "dehumanizing" social policies directed at African-Americans. Malakaj is also the co-chair of the university's Diversity Committee for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, as well as the co-founder of the school's LGBTQ Faculty Network.
His bio lists "Feminist and Queer Film Historiography" as one of his teaching interests.
Both courses are part of the university's Academic Community Engagement (ACE) program, which combines the traditional classroom environment with community engagement.
