1990
In the spring, UT witnesses a few public incidents that lead some to believe that campus life is hostile to racial minorities. Linda Brodkey, with Dean Standish Meacham and English Department Chair Joseph Kruppa’s approval, decides to overhaul the 306 curriculum, titling the new course “Writing about Difference” and centering its reading on Supreme Court cases and a controversial anthology. The Lower-Division English Program Committee supports the idea, despite strong objections to the anthology and to other aspects of the proposed course. Brodkey and Kruppa contact both local and national newspapers with a press release about the new E 306 theme. Soon negative articles criticizing “Writing about Difference” appear in local newspapers. Four faculty (two specializing in literature, two in rhetoric and composition) raise strong reservations in departmental meetings. The controversy both in public venues and within the department leads to a series of revisions and eventually to the Dean’s decision to postpone the implementation of E 306 “Writing about Difference” until the fall of 1991. Acrimonious exchanges about the class spill out into the popular press. Investigative articles allege that right-wing political groups coordinated a media response to an otherwise innocuous course. Some claim that the university president, William Cunningham, forced Meacham’s hand, insisting that the course be cancelled. On the right are numerous complaints about political correctness run amok at UT.
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