The college required participants to check a box affirming they had benefited from white privilege and would support decolonization efforts
To join a Zoom call, you typically need the correct link, a password, or prior registration. But for students and faculty at George Brown College in Toronto, there was another, ideological requirement for access to a recent Zoom meeting.
The college required participants to check a box affirming they had benefited from white privilege and would support decolonization efforts, according to the College Fix.
The purpose of the Zoom meeting is unclear. The required box and its accompanying text were originally discovered by what College Fix describes as "social media users."
In four paragraphs, the text explains the school is built on formerly-native lands, acknowledges the people that lived there previously, and says today’s white population has benefited from native displacement. Below the statements, the form says it's not intended to be coercive, but a means of education.
"By selecting 'I agree,' you are indicating your acknowledgment of this statement. Our intent is not to impose agreeance, but to inform through acknowledgment. This acknowledgment is to generate awareness and offer opportunities for personal reflection," the form reads.
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View on XIn the same spirit as the agreement, George Brown College has several mentions on its websites that native Americans formerly owned the land the college was built on. It's also currently celebrating indigenous history month.
The website features a "Office of Anti-Racism, Equity, and Human Rights Services" page.
George Brown College could not be reached for comment on whether this type of access requirement is used in other ways at the school.
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