Inside CSU’s Required Ethnic Studies Courses: White Supremacy, Racializing ‘Zootopia,’ and a Gay Sex Scene

Black gender and sexuality, Filipino sexuality culture, colonialism, social justice, and white supremacy are all phrases you might hear in a progressive activist meeting, but at California State University, East Bay (CSUEB), these represent ethnic studies courses that are a required part of the curriculum.

An investigation by Defending Education found that students only have the option to pick from eight different courses, all of which uphold a narrow narrative of systemic racism.

Below is a list of the eight course options, all framed through a progressive, social-justice-oriented lens:

For an estimated $30,000 a year, you can take “Culture, Power, and Ecology” and explain how “white supremacy, colonialism, and capitalism affect human labor, cultural autonomy, and human-ecological relations.”

You can also choose a course called “Filipina/x/o American LGBTQ+ Identities and Experiences.” This one describes itself as helping students to “analyze the varied expressions of gender identities and sexualities in Filipina/x/o American communities.”

The full list and course descriptions are available at Defending Education.

Reagan Dugan, director of higher education initiatives at Defending Education, told the Daily Signal that these courses go beyond teaching a different point of view.

“Students at CSUEB can’t graduate without taking one of these eight courses focused on social justice. That goes past teaching contested ideas and mandates coursework that starts from one ideological premise.”

Reagan continued, “That may be unsurprising in California, but students there still deserve better than ideological mandates in their gen eds.”

The requirement reaches beyond CSUEB. California now requires all CSU students to complete an ethnic studies course to graduate, meaning students are paying tuition to take courses that are framed through a progressive, social-justice-oriented lens while being offered no alternative.

Dylan Frazin, a senior at Cal State University of Fullerton and conservative student journalist, described having to take these courses as “utterly appalling.”

Frazin shared his personal experience taking a Chicano studies course, thinking he would learn about “Latin history in America.” He soon found out he was very wrong. 

“Our first assignment was having to watch a children’s film, “Zootopia,” and to assign a race to one of the animals and describe why that animal is that race. Within the first two weeks, we were already reading an intro to [critical race theory] by Ibram Kendi and being taught how to be antiracist.”

Frazin also shared a disturbing moment in class where students were forced to watch a gay sex scene.

“We were also forced to watch a movie, ‘La Mission,’ more specifically the gay sex scene contained in the movie, to teach us how parents can demonstrate “toxic masculinity” towards their gay children,” he said.

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