Adam Guillette to Campus Reform: University of Alabama Course Is “Activism,” Not Education
August 26, 2026
University of Alabama requires students to take ‘Anti-Oppression and Social Justice’ course
Brendan McDonald ’27 | August 26, 2026, 5:16 am ET
Social work students at the University of Alabama must complete a course called “Anti-Oppression and Social Justice” to graduate.
The School of Social Work’s Bachelor of Social Work requirements require students to complete either “Anti-Oppression and Social Justice” or the honors version of the course.
The course “is designed to introduce the student to social, economic, and political systems of power that serve to oppress communities that have been minoritized,” according to its description.
It also “examines issues related to the lived experiences of people based on age, culture, race, ethnicity, gender/gender identity/gender expression, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status/class, ability, religion/spirituality, and national origin.”
The ideological coursework extends to the graduate program. Students pursuing a Master of Social Work are required to take “Diversity, Oppression, & Anti-Racism,” while the School of Social Work says its undergraduate program uses a “social justice education framework.”
The school’s Strategic Plan Dashboard for 2026 lists an objective to “[s]tructure and support all academic programs to attract and retain quality students and produce graduates who are committed to advancing social justice and providing quality, strengths-based, evidence-based services.”
Accuracy in Media (AIM), a DEI watchdog, has conducted undercover investigations into social work programs at Ohio State University and Bowling Green State University, showing DEI material remained in social-work curricula despite Ohio’s anti-DEI law.
AIM President Adam Guillette criticized the mandated courses at UA’s School of Social Work in comments to Campus Reform.
“This isn’t education; it’s activism,” Guillette argued. “It is appropriate as a training course at the Democratic Socialists of America but has no place in higher education. Socialism should be taught at universities, but in a history course so that students can learn about the 100+ million killed by Marxist-Leninist regimes in the 20th century.”
“Our team doesn’t generally see courses like this advertised so openly,” Guillette continued.