Tipsheet

Washington and Lee University Actually Defends Course on 'How to Overthrow the State'

If the state of society is a reflection of the country’s educational institutions, today’s political climate can be explained by a course Washington and Lee University is offering titled “How to Overthrow the State.”

The first-year writing seminar puts each student “at the head of a popular revolutionary movement aiming to overthrow a sitting government and forge a better society.”

Freshmen will think about how they will “attain power,” transform society to improve people’s lives, and “deal with the past.”

“[W]e explore examples of revolutionary thought and action from across the Global South,” the course description states. 

And guess who is among those revolutionaries? Mass murderer Che Guevara and Marxist radical Frantz Fanon. 

“Students engage these texts by participating in a variety of writing exercises, such as producing a Manifesto, drafting a white paper that critically analyzes a particular issue, and writing a persuasive essay on rewriting history and confronting memory,” the description adds. 

When asked about the course, the university’s president dismissed criticism, saying the class has been “distorted, sensationalized, and turned into political fodder on blogs, television, and social media.”

“We are expressly committed to encouraging all to speak their minds freely and to consider carefully alternative points of view,” said WLU President Will Dudley, reports CBS19. “It is incumbent upon us to treat each other with respect and not perpetuate or tolerate personal attacks.” 

Newt Gingrich blasted the course as a “sign of the insanity taking over higher education.”