Students Ex Machina?

This reflection explores how professors narrativize the role of graduate students at York University in the Social and Political Thought (SPT) program in Toronto. In the case of SPT and its administration from 2018 to 2022, graduate students, particularly those with academic service and governance experience, were considered adversaries rather than colleagues to senior faculty members because of their main goal: to successfully implement the institutionalization of the Black Studies, Theories of Race and Racism stream. Examining the conflicts that arose during this time reveals the importance of vigilance around the consolidation of Black studies in ostensibly progressive programs, and illuminates how the figuration of problem students provides a compelling alibi for the demoralizing and alienating social conditions in academia.