Health Sciences: Social Justice and Sport

A discourse in American sports culture which has long been a haven for the most unjust attitudes and ideas including sexism, racism, and homophobia will be juxtaposed with the strong history of athletes using their high-profile stage for social change.

Open to Degree and PACE students; Asynchronous online

This class is a discourse in American sports culture which has long been a haven for the most unjust attitudes and ideas including sexism, racism, and homophobia will be juxtaposed with the strong history of athletes using their high-profile stage for social change. To successfully navigate this course, students will engage with intersections of race, gender, class, sexual orientation, hyper-masculinity, and hyper-militarism as they manifest in sport. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice will be explored through a sport perspective from Jessie Owens at the Berlin Olympics to Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the anthem. Current situations from the daily news cycle that fall within the scope of this course will be pulled in and discussed as well. The power and privilege of corporations and sports organization ownership, usually dominated by affluent white males and profit-first perspectives, is juxtaposed with the individual athlete and their unique types of power and privilege. Themes of power and privilege, and how they are linked to injustice and potentially used for social justice will be analyzed and debated.

Brightspace: Brightspace will be used for all aspects of this course. The main route of communication will be through announcements/email and it is my expectation that you look for, read, and follow any information or instruction that comes to you through that mechanism. All assignments and supporting materials will be located in Brightspace and it is my goal to make the space easy to navigate. Participation and Expectations: It is expected that students engage in the assignments fully and to the best of their ability. This is the only way we can reach our potential together as a learning community. • Students will: engage in deep reflection, civil discourse, and quality reflective writing. • I will: provide timely feedback on written work and engage with you in online discussion. This course is instructor-paced with weekly assignments. Assignments include written reflection, online discussion, and a final paper. Students are expected to engage with the material, me, and each other. It is my expectation that you will do everything you can to optimize your learning and to fully participate in this course. The ability for this learning community to thrive is up to each of us. Do your part.

Each quiz, assignment, and discussion board post has points associated with them, However, the grading in this course is done with weighted scoring. So, don’t pay as much attention to the actual points accrued, simply complete quality work in each of the areas below. Here are the weightings: Quizzes (2): 5% -Auto-graded within Brightspace with feedback Assignments (21): 65% -Graded via rubric. Rubrics can be found within Blackboard. -Reflective Writing (19) -Individual research (1) -Argumentative Essay Outline (1) -Argumentative Essay (1) Discussion Board: 30% -Participation within YellowDig where more guidance can be found.