Spring 2022 marks the first semester VCU is offering CSIJ 200: Race and Racism in America. The Commonwealth Times published an article about the development and launch of the course.

CSIJ 200 fulfills the racial literacy requirement as a part of the foundations of VCU’s general education curriculum.

Each course in the Racial Literacy Requirement of General Education curriculum needs to address all
the following criteria through a lens of analysis and application specific to the United States:

1. The social construction of race and racism, along with their origin, evolution, and maintenance
   (i.e., political, social, and cultural invention).
2. Key theoretical concepts about race and racism.
3. The operation of interdependent types and levels of racism (i.e., individual, interpersonal,
   intergroup, institutional, structural, and systemic).
4. The historical and current structures of racialized power and privilege, including whiteness.
5. Social institutions, policies, and practices that contribute to and enable racism.
6. Approaches and strategies to disrupt and dismantle systemic racism as well as ways to engender
   and institutionalize equitable alternatives.