Butler University offers anti-Trump 'resistance' course
President of the Butler University College Republicans weighs in on 'Fox & Friends'
Indiana’s Butler University is toning down the rhetoric surrounding an anti-Donald Trump course being offered to students this fall.
Students now have the option to sign up for a “Special Topics” class titled “Trumpism & U.S. Democracy.” An initial course description charged the president with “perpetuating sexism, white supremacy, xenophobia, nationalism, nativism, and imperialism.”
ANTI-TRUMP COURSE AT BUTLER UNIVERSITY OFFERS ‘STRATEGIES FOR RESISTANCE’
“This course explores why and how this happened, how Trump’s rhetoric is contrary to the foundation of the U.S. democracy, and what his win means for the future,” read the first description on Butler’s website. The course also promised to “discuss, and potentially engage in, strategies for resistance.”
But by Friday the description of the class, slated to run from August until December, had been moderated significantly.
“The course will provide context and depth for student citizens as we look to historical and current texts by renowned authors as well as read excerpts from Trump's own ‘The Art of the Deal,’ ” the new description read. “Students will potentially attend, as participant observers, campus and community events to witness ongoing responses to Trump's presidency and campaign.”
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The response to the course from conservatives on campus has been one of concern.
“You know, when I first found out, they initially used the terms ‘strategies of resistance.’ I didn’t know initially what they were trying to mean by that,” Jacob Lenfestey, the President of Butler University’s College Republicans told Fox & Friends on Friday.
“What I do know is just days after the election Butler President James Danko had sent out a student-wide e-mail, and in that he had made a point to say that we should all accept President Trump as the winner of the election and move forward after months of negative political discourse. And I feel like, you know, the initial terms that they had used just don’t line up with President Danko’s goals,” he said.
But Butler isn’t alone in offering anti-Trump classes. A “Resistance School” recently ran at Harvard University. That four-session tutorial ran from April 5 to April 27.
Students at Butler University pay around $36,000 in tuition.
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