Unconscious Bias and Racialized Spaces, The UMass Boston Way
Unconscious Bias and Racialized Spaces, The UMass Boston Way
Our university got some fresh insights into the ways of fighting unconscious biases, and our Northeastern University neighbors may be of help
UMass Boston’s Office for Faculty Development (OFD) has a well thought-out plan to end implicit bias and achieve racial harmony once and for all. In a presentation entitled “Unconscious bias in the hiring process”, unconscious bias is defined as a…
Phenomenon where a stereotype influences a person’s decisions without his/her/their awareness
Admittedly, we all have unconscious and implicit biases. How does one eliminate these biases?
The answer is simple: Don’t be a bigot who “views the classroom as a utilitarian physical space” or, god forbid, “claims not to see race” or “refuses to collect disaggregate data”. Oh, the horror!
Eliminate implicit and unconscious bias by making it explicit and conscious! Be equity-minded! Hyper-focus on racial identity! Actively self-monitor interactions with students of color! (Indeed, there is no a better way out there to create natural, authentic relationships other than hyper-focussing on race, making implicit biases explicit and constantly monitoring your behavior.) Most importantly, view the classroom as a racialized space!
Ah, racialized spaces. Just like in the good old days. We knew all along that “racialized spaces” bring nothing but love and harmony to the world, right?
Right?
Right??
(apologies, the last example doesn’t count).
If you’re still unconvinced, our neighbors at Northeastern University are here to help. A smart device that will be able detect instances of implicit bias in the workplace is currently being developed, under a grant from the U.S. Army no less! Imagine how greater the world will be when the device starts constantly monitoring everyone’s behavior for bias faux-pas! One can also foresee a gadget that cuts the problem at the source: a brain implant that removes the wrong-think from your cortex before you ever knew it got there.
What a wonderful world! Also a brave and new one!