York University is hosting a Humanities and Social Sciences Congress that’s offering free admission to those who “self-identify” as black or Indigenous.
The latter is just the latest woke affair to come out of the Toronto-area university in the past week.
A Humanities and Social Sciences Congress being hosted at York University is offering free admission to those who “self-identify” as black or Indigenous. Regular attendees have to pay a conference fee of $190-$250. #CampusWatch pic.twitter.com/NC6WmSEIA5
— Élie Cantin-Nantel (@elie_mcn) May 29, 2023
The congress, which is organized by the Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences, is described as “the largest academic gathering in Canada, and one of the largest in the world,” with the participation of over 10,000 scholars, graduate students and practitioners and 67 academic associations from humanities and social sciences disciplines.
While regular attendees had to pay a conference fee of $190-$250, the fee was waived for those who “self-identify” as black or Indigenous – amid the Federation stating that its conference will “support equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization.”
“We are offering complimentary access under certain categories for Black and Indigenous participants,” says the Federation on its website.
“If you are attending an association conference at Congress and are a student who self-identifies as Black or Indigenous, your Congress fee is waived. If you are purchasing a community pass to attend open events only, and you self-identify as Black or Indigenous, your community pass is complimentary.”
The Federation, however, notes that black students may have to pay an “association fee.”
Discounted access is also being offered to K-12 students, educators, part-time workers and unemployed people – however, they must still pay a conference fee.
True North’s Noah Jarvis, who attends York University, criticized the Federation’s initiative as “highly demeaning” and “structurally discriminatory,” and expressed disappointment in York for promoting the event.
“It is a shame that York University is promoting racially discriminatory programs that are divisive and perpetuate the abhorrent idea that black Canadians are somehow inferior and require special treatment.”
“Any program that incentivizes being a member of a certain racial or ethnic group over another racial or ethnic group creates interracial envy and is the opposite of progressive.”
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences President and CEO Gabriel Miller told True North his organization “has done a lot of work to transform itself and Congress, and one of the most important priorities has been to make sure that underrepresented members of our scholarly community have a place and a voice in Congress.”
“It is essential this work continue so that every young Black or Indigenous scholar has full and equitable access to higher education and opportunities that come with it, such as presenting their research at Congress.”
Meanwhile, York University told True North it “has long been a champion of access to higher education, diversity and inclusivity, embracing differing perspectives, peoples, and ways of knowing that bring positive change to society.”
“Living these values means acknowledging that inclusion happens when diversity of experience, thought and identity harmonize around common purpose. As a University, York supports and embraces efforts to remove barriers that limit fair and equitable access to opportunities.”
This is the third time in the past week that wokeness at York University has made headlines.
As exclusively reported by True North over the weekend, the taxpayer-funded post-secondary institution claimed in its recently released “Decolonizing, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy” document that Christianity fuels colonialism – and referred to the religion practiced by millions of Canadians as an “ideology.”
A York spokesperson then defended the claim, noting, “decolonization is foundational to this work and requires a deeper understanding of colonialism, including an acknowledgement of the systems of ideological power that created it, including religiously Christian organizations that have historically oppressed Indigenous peoples.”
Meanwhile, York professor Vidya Shah faced accusations of racism after claiming protocol, professionalism and conflict management are used by “whiteness” to “institutionalize lies, denials and cover-ups,” in a Twitter tirade.
