‘I Hate Whiteness:’ Assistant Dean at Brandeis Scorches White People in Instagram Post

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Brandeis Assistant Dean Kate Slater took to Instagram over the weekend to opine on critical race theory, writing, in part, that “all White people are racist.”

“‘Debates’ about critical race theory are often straw men for debates about whether or not systemic racism is real,” Slater wrote in the missive, which was posted in the form of a photograph. “And no number of statistics or facts that I could offer up are going to convince people to ‘see’ systemic racism if they don’t want to.”

“Yes, all White people are racist in that all White people have been conditioned in a society where one’s racial identity determines life experiences/outcomes and Whiteness is the norm and the default,” Slater added. That includes me! I don’t hate White people. I hate Whiteness.”

Fifteen percent of students enrolled at Brandeis identified as minorities as of 2019, according to online demographic data. The Massachusetts-based university hired Slater in 2020 to serve as an assistant dean for graduate student affairs. The role is typically administrative, though a personal website for the iconoclastic dean notes her previous work included acting as a “White anti-racist scholar and educator” who investigated “White racial identity formation and how racism operates individually, organizationally, and systemically.”

Brandeis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.