Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow (D.), a candidate in the state’s Democratic primary for its open Senate seat in 2026, endorsed a controversial seminar on "white privilege" at the University of Notre Dame that culminated in a conference where students were segregated into "race-based caucuses."
McMorrow, who graduated from Notre Dame in 2008, wrote on X in 2014 that she was "particularly proud" of the university’s decision to offer "a White Privilege Seminar."
The class, called "White Privilege Seminar: An Introduction to the Intersections of Privilege," aimed to teach students to "disrupt personal, institutional and worldwide systems of oppression" and lead them to "personal transformation," according to Notre Dame’s description of the six-week course. It drew attention and criticism from those who claimed it demonized white people and was based on a "racist sociological theory," with one student slamming its curriculum as "indoctrination" and saying it was "an opportunity to bias students toward the shaming of one culture and ethnicity" in a Newsweek article McMorrow shared in her post.
Prospective students were required to submit an application for approval to attend the class, which reportedly included essay questions asking students to define "privilege" and describe the privileges they have and the benefits they have received as a result.
The capstone of the class was a university-funded trip to the 16th annual "White Privilege Conference" in Kentucky. According to a program for the 2015 conference, attendees were divided into three "race-based caucuses," which included one group for "white people," one for "people of color/ Indigenous people," and one for "mixed or multi-race individuals."
"Racial privilege (for White people) and racial oppression (for People of Color and Indigenous people) shape racial identity and cross-race interactions in significant ways," the conference program said. "Because of this, it is important to spend time in same-race groups to explore issues of privilege, oppression and identity."
The news comes as McMorrow, who is still largely unknown outside Michigan, has positioned herself as a middle-ground choice in the Democratic primary between the far-left Abdul El-Sayed and establishment candidate Rep. Haley Stevens (D., Mich.). McMorrow’s praise for the class highlights the candidate’s willingness to embrace the far-left zeitgeist. In her recent book, Hate Won’t Win: Find Your Power and Leave This Place Better Than You Found It, McMorrow discusses a speech she gave in defense of Democratic efforts to prevent Republicans from removing materials with sexual content and critical race theory-imbued rhetoric from elementary school classrooms.
"People who are different are not the reason that our roads are in bad shape after decades of disinvestment or that health care costs are too high or that teachers are leaving the profession," she said. "I want every child in this state to feel seen, heard, and supported, not marginalized and targeted because they are not straight, white, and Christian."
In addition to segregated sessions, the conference featured panels on "White Women: Internalized Sexism and White Superiority"; "Christian Hegemony and the Bible Belt"; "Manipulating White Anger"; "Resisting White America's Islamophobia"; and the "Corrosive Effects of Whiteness in Teacher Education." It also included a discussion with White Fragility author Robin DiAngelo.
The program description for "Resisting White America's Islamophobia" claimed the "post-9/11 era in the U.S. has exposed the large amount of hate and bigotry that White America carries towards Muslim people," and blamed the allegedly "bigoted views of white conservatives like Bill O’Reilly and white liberals such as Bill Maher."
Another session on "Manipulating White Anger" said it would "examine the interlocked workings of the Far Right, the Religious Right, UltraConservatives and mainstreaming bigots like the Tea Party to demonstrate how public policies for the common good are manipulated by white supremacist ideology, even if this ideology is deeply disguised."
One session on the "Lie of Asian American Exceptionalism" described Asian Americans as a "key player in white supremacist divide and conquer strategies," according to the program description.
Many of the panels denounced "whiteness" and depicted white people as overwhelmingly racist. The session "Raced in America" promised to "examine how, whether conscious or unconscious, most white people have developed ways of existing in the world that demonstrates white culture, its values, and practices as better and superior to those of people of color."
Representatives for McMorrow declined to comment on the class and conference.
The 2026 Michigan Senate race is expected to be one of the most competitive in the country, with the Democratic nominee likely to face off against Republican primary frontrunner and former congressman Mike Rogers.
