After eight months in office as the student body president I have learned a lot about our University. I have learned that we are a model for the state and the nation as an incubator for future leaders and young voters who set the bar for civic engagement. I have learned that we are innovators in the sciences. I have learned that we are a home for great athletic achievement. I have also gained an education in our shortcomings.
I have had the privilege to work with some of the most passionate and intelligent students on this campus in my short tenure in the ASUO. These students, many of them active in our student unions, student government and ethnic studies program have taught me about one of our most egregious shortcomings: a lack of administrative support to departmentalize ethnic studies.
Our University fell behind when we became one of the only flagship universities without an ethnic studies department. Ethnic studies is an important and necessary discipline. It provides an education that is not available in any other department. History taught to most of us leaves out the many stories and struggles of communities of color in our country that need to be part of our shared narrative. Until our University recognizes these histories we will not have a hope of having as diverse a student body as we should.
This University needs to pay more than lip service to our Diversity Plan and our efforts to recruit and retain students and faculty of color. Departmentalizing ethnic studies would be one positive change towards that end.
Emily McLain
Student body president