You hear optimists saying all the time that Woke is past its peak. But it sure looks like the Great Awokening still has a ton of institutional momentum as big, slow-moving organizations continue to implement ridiculous policies emanating from the 2020-21 “racial reckoning.”

For example, from the Willamette Week:

The Portland Art Museum Ditches Its Docents, Raising Questions About Race, Class and Especially Age

The shift comes as the museum is getting a new look inside and out

By Rachel Saslow
October 04, 2023 at 5:46 am PDT

After Paulla Dacklin retired from her career as an art teacher, she poured her energy into volunteering as a Portland Art Museum docent. She led 30 tours a year for students, guiding them through the museum and helping explain the works on display. Dacklin, 71, also met with fellow docents for continuing education on Mondays, and even exhibited her own art at a docent gallery show.

When the pandemic ebbed and the museum reopened, it felt strange that she never heard from the museum to set up her touring schedule—especially when Portland Public Schools was fully operational.

“It became apparent that we were kind of on hold, and we couldn’t figure out why,” Dacklin says.

The picture clarified on Aug. 22 when Dacklin and all 175 Portland Art Museum docents were, essentially, dumped via email.

The letter from museum management—subject line: “Future Directions”—explained that the museum was doing away with the approximately 40-year-old docent council structure and bringing in paid “learning guides” recruited from local colleges. …

“The message is really clear that the services of a group of older, retired educators are no longer needed,” Dacklin says.

The shift comes as the museum is getting a new look inside and out with its $110 million Mark Rothko Pavilion now under construction. It has also left hard feelings and highlighted a central tension facing museums across the country: Does reflecting the communities they serve mean reducing the role of senior white women, who made up a large proportion of the docent council? …

PAM’s overhaul of its docent program is the latest in a national trend.

… Museums in Denver and Birmingham, Ala., have also moved to paid college-guide programs. When the Art Institute of Chicago dismissed its docents and replaced them with a fleet of younger, more diverse “paid educators” in fall 2021, a flurry of media coverage (including scathing missives in conservative outlets) was so intense that the museum hired extra security.

… The word “docent” itself is now kaput at PAM: “While we understand that the word docent has warm, positive associations for some, we have also received feedback that the term is confusing and unclear,” Ferriso and Parrish wrote in the August email to former docents.

The Oregon Historical Society and the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education have also updated their programs to move away from the traditional docent model.

One former docent, who declined to be named, didn’t feel blindsided like Dacklin did by changes to the council. Based on what happened to the docents in Chicago and all the equity consultants PAM brought in, she had felt the “foreboding” for a couple of years. She laughed at the idea of going back to PAM as a volunteer educator: “They burned their bridge.”

Dacklin feels similarly alienated. “I’m heartbroken,” she says, her voice brimming with emotion. “Will I go back to the museum and volunteer? I don’t know anyone that’s going to do it. But I don’t know everyone.” …

The staff leading tours looks quite different as of last week, when the pilot group of four paid “learning guides” started their training. The museum is recruiting from Portland Community College, Portland State University and Lewis & Clark College. They will give tours of the museum to students two days a week.

Up on the walls right now is the exhibit Black Artists of Oregon, featuring work by 69 artists spanning from the 1880s to today. It is on view through March 17. Next month at this time, museum staff will be getting ready to mount Africa Fashion, an exhibit from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

… docents had to devote a year to training, which was a huge barrier to entry for volunteers who don’t have that kind of time and flexibility, Sabatier says.