Power, Difference, and Equity (PDE) courses ensure that students critically engage with historic and contemporary structures of power, systemic inequality, identity and difference, and intersections of oppression/privilege. Through an interrogation of the exercise of power in society, students will learn to recognize the ways that social structures shape reality and to imagine the possibilities for a more equitable, sustainable future.
The PDE designation may be added to any of the Liberal Arts Distribution or World Engagement courses, as well as Writing-centered courses. Such classes may be used to satisfy both the distribution requirement or world engagement requirement and the Power, Difference, and Equity and/or Writing-centered requirement(s). In order to satisfy the General Education requirements for graduation, students must earn a grade of C- or higher in at least 4 credits of PDE coursework.