www.wsj.com/articles/notable-quotable-a-yale-petition-1464992359

  

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Notable & Quotable: A Yale Petition

‘It is unacceptable that a Yale student considering studying English literature might read only white male authors.’

ENLARGE

Yale University in New Haven, Conn. PHOTO: STEVE REMICH/WALL STREET JOURNAL

June 3, 2016 6:19 p.m. ET

From a recently released student petition at Yale University:

We, undergraduate students in the Yale English Department, write to urge the faculty to reevaluate the undergraduate curriculum. We ask the department to reconsider the current core requirements and the introductory courses for the major.

In particular, we oppose the continued existence of the Major English Poets sequence as the primary prerequisite for further study. It is unacceptable that a Yale student considering studying English literature might read only white male authors. A year spent around a seminar table where the literary contributions of women, people of color, and queer folk are absent actively harms all students, regardless of their identity. . . .

We ask that Major English Poets be abolished, and that the pre-1800/1900 requirements be refocused to deliberately include literatures relating to gender, race, sexuality, ableism, and ethnicity.