Ethnic Studies should be departmentalized at the University of Oregon, however the process of getting there should not be one of radicalization and politicization.
The past weeks have seen increasing pressure on the part of student groups and individual students as they forward their political agendas and align themselves with the Ethnic Studies movement. Rather than affecting the issue in a positive manner, however, their actions threaten to associate the collective push for departmentalization with a quagmire of ad homonym attacks that in many ways expose many of the same unresolved racial issues that necessitate action on the University’s diversity plan in the first place.
Some would argue that anything short of the most aggressive calls and actions to have departmentalization take place immediately is a defeatist posture and could allow it to be put off further and further.
But there has to be a balance between aggressive moves and more conservative approaches. The great risk of aggressive moves is that they can be fractured and not take other groups and individuals’ efforts into account.
The latest developments in the ASUO demonstrate how individual egos and aspirations to be the key group or individual in realizing the goal of departmentalization can sidetrack the issue. A dispute between ASUO presidential candidate Sam Dotters-Katz and Senator Oscar Guerra shows just how quickly good intentions of aggressive lobbying can become an ethical conundrum about who is racially qualified to be an aggressive advocate for this matter.
The ideal situation, and certainly the purpose for moving towards a department, is to confront the idea that individuals and their intentions have to be judged by their racial and ethnic identity. However, in the rush to take the lead on pushing this forward, the individual players have a way of becoming more important than the movement itself.
The terms and conditions under which such a department will be created should not be hastily expedited just because it’s becoming a hot political issue. On the contrary, open and calm collaboration that forwards the cause, rather than the players, is what will bring about the new department.