A University of Minnesota webpage describing a so-called “whiteness pandemic” is drawing sharp criticism after laying out a framework that urges White Americans to “halt and reverse” the issue through antiracist self-reflection and parenting.
The webpage, hosted by the Culture and Family Lab within the university’s Institute of Child Development, opens with a sweeping claim about American life, according to Fox News.
“If you were born or raised in the United States, you have grown up in the Whiteness Pandemic, and you can play a role in halting and reversing this pandemic, especially if you are White because of the power and privilege you hold in this racialized society,” it states.
The site argues that early childhood is where this so-called “pandemic” begins.
“If you were socialized into the culture of Whiteness during childhood, it is not your fault, but as an adult, it is now your responsibility to self-reflect, re-educate yourself, and act,” the page reads. “If you are a White adult, antiracist action involves an ongoing process of self-reflection in order to develop a healthy, positive White identity while engaging in courageous antiracist parenting/caregiving.”
Parents’ rights organization Defending Education flagged the webpage in a report released Tuesday, highlighting the university’s continued embrace of racial programming that critics argue goes far beyond standard diversity training.
The webpage frames racism as an epidemic but claims an “another” pandemic—whiteness—is “lurking” behind it. Several experts are listed as contributors, offering resources that reference the death of George Floyd and provide guidance “especially for white parents” on forming a “healthy white racial identity.”
“Whiteness refers to culture, not biology: the centuries-old culture of Whiteness features colorblindness, passivity, and White fragility,” the university claims, calling them “covert expressions of racism common in the United States.”
The site goes further, asserting that families are key drivers of systemic racism.
“Naming the Whiteness Pandemic shifts our gaze from the victims and effects of racism onto the systems that perpetrate and perpetuate racism, starting with the family system,” it says.
One paper highlighted on the webpage surveyed mostly liberal White mothers with incomes over $125,000, concluding that “Family socialization into the centuries-old culture of Whiteness…perpetrates and perpetuates U.S. racism, reflecting an insidious Whiteness pandemic.”
Funding for the project includes support from the National Institute of Mental Health.
The page also directs readers to works by Ibram X. Kendi and Robin DiAngelo, along with material titled, “How to explain white privilege in terms simple enough for a child.”
Rhyen Staley, research director at Defending Education, criticized the program in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“This far-left programming at a major public university is another example of how ingrained DEI is in higher education and is not going away any time soon,” he said, adding that ideas like “whiteness” gain legitimacy through “dubious activist-academic ‘scholarship.’”
Staley said universities “must end this nonsense yesterday.”
A University of Minnesota spokesperson responded that the institution is “steadfast in its commitment to the principles of academic freedom.”
The report follows earlier findings from Defending Education showing that the university has supplied K-12 educators with ethnic studies material promoting defunding the police, Black Lives Matter, and warnings about “white supremacy” and “settler colonialism.”
