The University of Maryland is breaking new ground this spring, but not in the way you’d hope. Among its lineup of courses is “Intro to Fat Studies: Fatness, Blackness, and Their Intersections.” Yes, you read that right. This three-credit class plans to dissect how fatness intersects with blackness and other “systems of oppression.”

Here’s the problem: this isn’t education—it’s ideological fluff. According to the course description, the class will look at fatness “as an area of human difference subject to privilege and discrimination.” Students will study it through the lens of social justice, performing arts, and activism, with a finale that explores “fat liberation.” Really? This is what college students are paying for.

It gets better. The course defines terms like “fatmisia”—hatred of fatness—as if it’s some groundbreaking discovery. It even makes fatness a linchpin for solving every social ill, from racism to ableism. Fat liberation is apparently liberation for “all bodies.” But is this really the path to a better society, or just another niche ideology disguised as scholarship?

The professor, Sydney Lewis, specializes in black feminist theory, black queer theory, and disability justice. Her past classes include “Bodies in Contention,” which focused on bodies that supposedly make society “uncomfortable.” Translation: more pseudo-academic drivel about how marginalized identities are “socially constructed.”

This isn’t an isolated incident. The Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, which offers this course, also boasts gems like “Gender, Race, and Computing” and “Quare/Queer Contentions: Exploration of Sexualities in the Black Community.” These are the kinds of classes that make parents question why they’re shelling out thousands in tuition.

Academia is supposed to prepare students for the real world, not coddle them with courses that turn every identity into a crisis. Fatness as a social justice issue? Sure, obesity is a public health problem, but turning it into a battleground for activism isn’t helping anyone.

The University of Maryland needs to reassess its priorities. Students deserve rigorous academics, not this overblown attempt at wokeness masquerading as education.