DePaul University recently hosted an event titled, “Hxstory: Transphobia & Colonialism,” in an effort to look “at the relationship of how Transphobia, cissexism & the gender binary are linked to colonialism, in the United States.”
Although the motivation behind the misspelling of the event title remains unclear, the spelling of the term “hxstory” has historically referred to, “a form of resistance to patriarchal society.” Last year, student activists at Western Washington University used the term while demanding resources to learn alternative histories.
Ironically, the term’s spelling doesn’t persist throughout the duration of the event’s description. The event flyer, which features inter-generational transgender individuals displayed prominently across a multicolored background states, “we will also dialogue about how naming Trans folks existing as ‘new revolution,’ plays a role in the erasure of Trans-history.”
DePaul University’s Center for Identity, Inclusion and Social Change (CIISC), the host of the event, describes its mission by stating, “The Center for Identity, Inclusion and Social Change provides integrative educational experiences for students, faculty, and staff to facilitate critical conversations around race, gender, sexuality, social justice, and the interplay of power and identity.”
Likewise, one of CIISC’s primary goals is to, “create and facilitate opportunities for students to become leaders in facilitating education on diversity and social justice among their peers.”
Additionally, CIISC advertises a group dubbed, “Gender?,” which is described as, “a weekly discussion group for DePaul students who would like to discuss gender and build community in a trans, non-binary, genderqueer and gender non-conforming focused space.” The university also allows students to changer their “gender marker” to “unspecified,” if they desire.
DePaul is no stranger to controversy. In May of 2016, conservative speaker Milo Yiannopoulos was assaulted in full view of university security and later banned from campus. Ultimately, the incident provoked such a furor that DePaul President Dennis Holtschneider resigned.
Milo was later barred from returning to DePaul for a second speech.
Ben Shapiro, a conservative author and speaker, was also subjected to the university’s turbulence. In November of 2016, a video revealed that DePaul University threatened to arrest the conservative author and speaker if he so much as stepped foot on campus.
Red Alert Politics reached out to DePaul University’s Center for Identity, Inclusion and Social Change, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
