The University administration should respond to student and staff demands for the departmentalization of ethnic studies. Ethnic studies is an important academic discipline. It critically evaluates elements of our society that many of us assume are normal. It shows how race and ethnicity are created and reshaped and their affect on the distribution of political and social power. It illuminates an important perspective on social life. A department of ethnic studies would have more power to recruit and retain professors; it would promote higher quality faculty research; and it would be better able to educate students. In short, it would make for a stronger university.
Given the convincing academic arguments and the sustained student and staff demands for the departmentalization of ethnic studies, it is hard to understand the administration’s quiet response. The administration should join students and staff in an open discussion about the departmentalization of ethnic studies. Currently, that “discussion” is happening through a series of student letters here in the Emerald. By refusing to engage with student and staff activists in an open dialogue, the administration betrays the philosophical traditions of debate and free exchange of ideas that are the foundation of the modern university system.
Tom Bode
Economics & Political Science Major