Trusteeship - November/December 2020 - 7

University of Pittsburgh Requires
Anti-Black Racism Course for Freshmen
THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH (Pitt)
is requiring first-year students to enroll in
"Anti-Black Racism: History, Ideology, and
Resistance" starting this fall.
The asynchronous, one-credit course is
one of several Pitt initiatives to improve
racial equity. "We have heard from our
black students, as well as black faculty
and staff, that our campus is not the safe,
inclusive, and equitable place for all that
we are committed to creating," said
Anne E. Cudd, the provost and senior
vice chancellor, in a letter to the
community.
According to the course syllabus, the multidisciplinary readings,
lectures, and discussions "will introduce students to the established tradition of scholarship focused on the
black experience and black cultural
expression" in addition to examining
"the development, spread, and artic-

ulations of anti-black racism."
"We hope that this course is a first
step in helping students recognize and
challenge anti-black policies and practices
when they encounter them, and to develop
strategies to be anti-racist in their everyday
lives," said Yolanda Covington-Ward, the
chair of Pitt's Department of Africana Studies and leader of the 12-member committee
that developed the course, as reported by

the New York Daily News.
On August 24, Education Dive reported
that Pitt's anti-racism curriculum is part of a
larger trend in higher education: The University of Colorado Boulder's three new Coursera courses on anti-racism and the passage
of Assembly Bill 1460, requiring all 23 California State University undergraduates to take
an ethnic studies course.
Alisa Cooper, an English professor at
Glendale Community College, told
Education Dive that these one-off
classes are a step in the right direction, but incorporating anti-racist
pedagogies into every class is a far
more effective method of enacting
systemic change. "We have to convince (students) that these issues
are important... and the best way to
do that is to integrate these types of
discussions and pedagogy into the
regular courses," she said.

LendEDU Publishes 2020 Report on Student Loan Debt

O

N AUGUST 19, LendEDU, a national student loan firm,

LendEDU's key findings for the class of 2019 include school-level

released its annual report, Student Loan Debt by School by

and state-level statistics too. The average student loan debt per bor-

State 2020. It provides an in-depth analysis of student loan

rower ranged from as low as $2,825 at Bryn Athyn College of the New

debt statistics from hundreds of universities and colleges across the

Church in Pennsylvania to a high of $65,401 at New York School of

United States.

Interior Design in New York. On a state level, Utah has the lowest

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System estimates
U.S. outstanding student loan debt is $1.67 trillion, and LendEDU's
2020 report sheds light on the Class of 2019's place within the American student debt crisis.
According to the report, the class of 2019's average student loan

average student loan debt per borrower: $16,633 while Connecticut
has the highest average: $41,579.
Of the 237 colleges with the highest student loan debt per borrower figures, LendEDU discovered 59.07 percent of the institutions
were private and 40.93 percent were public. Of the 238 colleges

debt per borrower was $29,076, but when including students with no

with the lowest student loan debt per borrower figures, 66.81 per-

student loans, the average 2019 graduate incurred $15,919 in student

cent of the colleges and universities were public, while 33.19 per-

loan debt. LendEDU also found 54.75 percent of students graduated

cent were private.

with debt from nonprofit four-year public and private institutions.

Experts are curious to see the impact of COVID-19 on the class

Upon further examination, borrowers from public institutions gradu-

of 2020's report. Since LendEDU's "Student Loan Debt by School by State

ated with $28,501 in student loan debt on average whereas borrowers

2020 is released on a one-year delay, the class of 2020's data will be

from private institutions left with $31,556 on average.

published in fall 2021.



SHUTTERSTOCK/ DISOBEY ART

NOV. DEC. 2020  TRUSTEESHIP  7
Trusteeship - November/December 2020

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