In the required elementary ed. course ‘Culture, Power, and Education’
A University of Minnesota education professor allegedly ran an “ICE drill” in class which included having selected students “shield” peers who might be targeted by the agency.
According to a Feb. 6 report by Alpha News, student “Angela” (who wishes to remain anonymous) claimed Professor Blanca Caldas conducted the exercise in her “Culture, Power, and Education” class, a required course for those seeking a degree in elementary education.
Angela said Caldas “began by putting up an image on the screen” about specific actions to take if ICE agents appeared at the door.
“She then had us stand up and move to the farthest corner away from the door and began by acting out her own role during a specific scenario, which is to talk to the agent and attempt to gain more information,” Angela explained further.
“Then, she came back to us in the back corner and told us … that we are to use our own bodies to cover up and shield specific individuals within our classroom that appear to be targets, and then finally she ended the drill by having us look around our peers and our fellow students within the classroom and identify specifically the people that would appear to be the targets.”
Angela said she believes there was a racial component to the exercise — that white students “essentially need to act as human shield[s] and interfere with federal agents.”
While “many others were uncomfortable” with the drill, students were “very quiet and essentially went along” with Caldas’ instructions, she added.
Angela also noted the “Culture, Power, and Education” class page included a pyramid with examples of “overt” and “covert” white supremacy.
The latter category includes “denial of white privilege,” “Make America Great Again,” “colorblindness,” and “white silence.”
According to her faculty page, Caldas teaches courses in multilingual and elementary education. Her PhD dissertation “Performing the Advocate Bilingual Teacher: Drama-based Interventions for Future Story-making” was given the Activist Research Grant Initiative Award sponsored in part by the Social Justice Institute and the U. Texas at Austin Center for Gender and Women’s Studies.
The university told Alpha News “it is aware of the situation and is conducting a thorough review.” The UMN Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction and Prof. Caldas could not immediately be reached for comment by The College Fix.
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