UNIV 1125 - The UNCommon Course

This course is designed to allow students to understand that "traits" are characteristics of people that they did not choose (e.g., race, gender, ethnicity, disability) and to highlight the process by which people often assign social value to those traits. This process is discussed through the common experiences and guided by the backgrounds and histories of those in the class and of visiting faculty members. Various histories and perspectives are also discussed in the context of evincing a more accurate picture of our university's community and our nation's population, including struggles and privileges, the origins of these struggles and privileges, and why the assignment of social value to unchosen traits is dysfunctional, and ultimately destructive to democracy. 3 credits.