A tenured art therapy professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) was suspended from teaching and placed under investigation following a student’s complaint about an assigned case study that mentioned violence against Palestinians.
Quote: Savneet Talwar, a faculty member with the school’s art therapy and counseling program, assigned the case study in April to a class on the cultural dimensions of therapy. The assignment asked students to develop an ethical treatment plan for a hypothetical queer, Muslim woman living in the US.
The language of the assignment read: “While she was not particularly politically active in her home country, protests in support of Palestine resonated with her on a personal level. She felt deeply affected by the violence against Palestinian civilians and was critical of the home government’s limited response.”
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Yeah, that’s a great way to make an ethical treatment plan: Get mad the person exists (even hypothetically).
Would the same student have an issue if the framing was different? If not, then this isn’t arguable on ethical grounds, right?
Also, it’s a friggin hypothetical! The made-up character is upset there’s violence from her perspective. Make that part of your treatment plan if you feel that way about it, don’t just complain.