Lack of U.S. Inequality Forces Weinberg to Expand Distro to International Classes

NU student John Smith (WCAS ‘16) is overjoyed to learn that Weinberg will be counting his class on Spanish art as a Social Inequalities credit.

"I am so grateful for my Social Inequalities and Diversity distro," Smith said. "It's making me so socially aware of the issues in Ancient Spain, and makes me really grateful that I live in a nation where such problems have been completely eradicated.”

Smith recently found out that the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences agreed to institute a Social Inequalities and Diversity distro requirement, in response to student activism. While initially the requirement was proposed as a focus on U.S.-based inequalities, Weinberg adjusted the course to accept international focuses instead.

“Thank God,” another Weinberg student, Hannah Rosenthal (WCAS ‘18) commented. “I mean, I grew up in Naperville. NAPERVILLE. Clearly I know what it’s like to feel marginalized in America. These Chicago kids give me shit all the time.”

The adjustment to Weinberg’s requirement is also good news for the school, which can adapt existing courses to fit the new Social Inequalities and Diversity distro, rather than crafting new courses and hiring adept professors to fulfill this need.

“It makes a lot of financial sense,” Weinberg Dean Clara Fitzpatrick explained. “We’re meeting our students’ requests by instituting the requirement, yet we’re saving money by avoiding the formation of new courses.”

Critics have raised the point that an internationally focused distro will neglect to educate NU students on domestic inequality, and will fail to nurture cultural consciousness within America.

For Smith, though, it’s not a concern.

“All that inequality, it's not here, it's out there!" he said. “This Spanish art class has taught me so much.”