New ASU English class: 'The Problem of Whiteness'

Eighteen students at Arizona State University are enrolled in a new, controversial English class about "the problem of Whiteness."

Five books are listed as required for the upper-division class, called "U.S. Race Theory and the Problem of Whiteness." The texts include "Playing in the Dark" by Toni Morrison, an acclaimed novelist who has won a Pulitzer Prize, a Nobel Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

MONTINI: Problem isn't 'whiteness' but ignorance

The other required books are "Critical Race Theory: An Introduction" by Richard Delgado, "Everyday Language of White Racism" by Jane Hill, "Alchemy of Race & Rights" by Patricia Williams, and "The Possessive Investment in Whiteness" by George Lipsitz.

ASU issued a statement about the class:

"This course uses literature and rhetoric to look at how stories shape people's understandings and experiences of race. It encourages students to examine how people talk about – or avoid talking about – race in the contemporary United States. This is an interdisciplinary course, so students will draw on history, literature, speeches and cultural changes – from scholarly texts to humor. The class is designed to empower students to confront the difficult and often thorny issues that surround us today and reach thoughtful conclusions rather than display gut reactions. A university is an academic environment where we discuss and debate a wide array of viewpoints."

The idea of "Whiteness" as a concept, rather than just skin color, has been a popular topic for research and academic classes since the late '90s. The study of "Whiteness" typically examines

Fox News correspondent Elisabeth Hasselbeck called the course "quite unfair, and wrong and pointed" on "Fox & Friends" Friday morning.

Lauren Clark, an ASU student who is not in the class, said on the show that she is disappointed that the university is offering the course.

"Clearly we have a lot of work to go as a society in terms of racial tensions, but having a class that suggests an entire race is the problem is inappropriate, wrong and quite frankly, counterproductive," she said on the show.

Assistant professor Lee Bebout teaches the class. He identifies as White.

Bebout declined to comment Friday, writing in an e-mail that "the last 24 hours have been stressful with some of the vitriolic hate-mail that I have received."