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Record for NoIndoctrination.org entry #2004.

Emporia State University (ESU)

Sep. 16, 2008

http://www.emporia.edu

Course: CE 710: Multicultural Counseling

Course Catalog Description: This course will focus on the development of the awareness, knowledge and skills necessary for counseling professionals to provide culturally relevant services to people from ethnic and cultural backgrounds which differ from the counselor's own. These skills are intended to "overlay" the counseling understandings the counselor has developed in other course work. This course emphasizes self-knowledge and uses methods of experiential and didactic learning.

Professor: Patricia Neufeld

Required? Yes, for my major or minor

Lecture Bias: Noticeable

Comments: At least 90% of the class seemed to be devoted to homosexuality. Because of this, Dr. Neufeld failed to adequately teach technique or even basic information about other cultures in a counseling setting. The homosexual lifestyle is not what bothered me, but the content of the class certainly didn't match the syllabus description. Aside from the homosexual agenda, she taught well. But I expected to be taught much more in the class besides pro-homosexual arguments. We students did not get what we paid for...instead we got a course on homosexuality and how it cannot be questioned.

Discussion Bias: Excessive

Comments: Dr. Neufeld invited several homosexual speakers to class, which is fine; but she said speakers with different points of view would not be invited to speak because "straight people make up the majority and we've heard enough from them" (not a direct quote, but close). I remember that a student in class once used the word "wife" in describing his spouse. Dr. Neufeld openly demanded that he refrain from using that term because "wife" was offensive to those in alternative lifestyles. He was told to refer to his wife only as "partner." I am certainly NOT hostile towards homosexuals, but when a professor makes a statement such as this, it becomes clear that students should neither question her views nor her emphasis on homosexuality. No student would not want to run the risk of being viewed as homophobic and therefore unfit for the counseling profession. Most students (me included) are terrified of the power professors have. Consequently, we do not want to rock the boat when our futures are at stake.

Readings Bias: Noticeable

Comments: The readings had a slight left-leaning theme, but almost none of the textbook or the readings were even discussed in the class.

General Comments: The Emporia State University Mission statement (http://www.emporia.edu/facsen/mission.htm) has the following: "Faculty, staff, and students interact in a collegial atmosphere that fosters freedom of inquiry and expression."

When students cannot use a term such as "wife" without giving offense and when it becomes clear that expressing contrary views or even questioning the homosexual emphasis of the class might jeopardize one’s future in counseling, there can be no "collegial atmosphere that fosters freedom of inquiry and expression."

Dr. Neufeld holds the chair position in her department [Counselor Education].

Rebuttal

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