Racial Segregation Removed From ETHS Course Catalog After News Reports

EVANSTON, IL — After their listings for next year's course offerings caught the attention of conservative influencers, Evanston Township High School administrators modified course descriptions that had described certain classes as "restricted for students who identify as Black" or "Latinx."

The changes did not expand the allowable ethnic identities to include people who identify as African American or Latino.

Instead, administrators removed the race-restrictive language, replacing it with the following: "While open to all students, this option section of the course is intended to support students who identify as Latinx" or "Black."

Courses intended for one of the two ethnic groups include Precalculus, English 2, Algebra 2 and AP Calculus.

Screenshots of a pair of Precalculus course descriptions were shared on a prominent conservative social media account Monday morning, highlighting a portion of one of them that said, "the course is restricted to students who identify as Black male students."

That course was the only one in the school's catalog that was described as restricted by both race and gender, The Spectator reported.

ETHS has about 3,600 students, of whom 45 percent are classified as white, 25 percent as Black, 20 percent as Hispanic, 5 percent as Asian and 4 percent as two or more races, according to data submitted to the Illinois State Board of Education.

After the widely shared course descriptions were met with sharp online criticism — including from several conservative commentators from Illinois — ETHS administrators modified the course request guide "to accurately reflect our goal and practice," according to an unsigned statement provided by a school spokesperson.

Evanston Township High School District 202 representatives declined to answer questions regarding who was responsible for racially restrictive course descriptions — or when or why they were changed.

"We do not have (and never have had) a process that restricts students from taking AP classes based on race," the unsigned statement said. "No ETHS student is restricted from taking an AP class based on identity or is required to take any class based on identity."

Patch asked district representatives if the school has ever restricted students from taking non-advanced placement classes on the basis of race but did not receive a reply Tuesday afternoon.