Monday, June 29, 1998
Connerly questions ethnic studies
ETHNIC STUDIES: UC Regent inquires about academic value of
various majors
By Shannan Rouss
Daily Bruin Contributor
University of California Regent Ward Connerly, well known for
his crusade against affirmative action, called into question the
ethnic studies programs on UC campuses, doubting their "educational
value." He plans an inquiry to determine their academic merit.
"I want to visit privately with a number of faculty members and
have them make the case that this is sound academic curriculum
rather than the political correctness mindset … I’m not
convinced," Connerly said in an interview with the San Francisco
Chronicle.
Connerly also questioned the legality of ethnic graduation
ceremonies, saying that such graduation ceremonies serve only to
"balkanize" campuses.
"Shouldn’t graduation day be the one day when all of our
students, regardless of their backgrounds, can unite as one
community?" he asked.
Don Nakanishi, professor and director of the Asian American
Studies Center at UCLA, was "appalled, but not surprised by Mr.
Connerly’s latest campaign." Nakanishi welcomed Connerly and other
regents to come and learn more about the ethnic studies programs at
UCLA.
"I think they will be impressed by our teaching, research,
publications, archival collecting and university-public
collaborations, which have been ranked as the finest in the nation
and world," Nakanishi said.
However, while considering the African American studies program,
Connerly charged that such studies are devoid of educational
import, having been founded upon the tenets of earlier decades.
"All of the infrastructure created back in the 1970s and ’80s as
a result of black nationalism and the black power movement, I think
we need to re-examine it now," said Connerly.
According to the UCLA General Catalog, the African American
studies major was originally designed in the late 1960s and early
1970s "to fill a void that existed at UCLA in terms of scholarly
and curricular material relevant to the African American
experience."
The major meets "a number of academic, personal and social
needs" by examining the African American experience in the United
States through a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach,
ranging from theater to linguistics.
Noluthandu Williams, a fourth-year African American and
international development studies student and chair of the African
Student Union, attested to the rigorous academic standards of
UCLA’s ethnic studies programs. She says the African American
studies courses she has taken have been more demanding than many of
her other classes.
"Thirteen books and three 10-12 page papers, and that is not
scholarship?" she asked, referring to an African American
literature class.
The Cesar E. Chavez Center for Chicana and Chicano Studies
program also has high academic expectations of it students.
Students apply social, economic, educational, historical and
political analysis to Chicana and Chicano studies. The major, as
explained in the UCLA General Catalog, "provides students with the
language and cross-cultural studies background that enhances their
qualifications for positions in schools, governmental organizations
and private enterprise."
Connerly, remains unconvinced that anything concrete and
scholarly is derived from these ethnic studies programs, instead
contending that they only serve to perpetuate divisiveness along
race lines.
He said there should be cause for concern "if students who take
these courses emerge more frustrated and more race-conscious than
they were when they entered."
Williams refuted Connerly’s comments, saying that raising the
level of consciousness amongst students is one of the very goals of
ethnic studies. She praised the courses not only for their academic
value, but also their avoidance of "extremist or sensationalist
curriculum" which appeals to students of all backgrounds.
Although Connerly criticized the classes because "the only
students in them are black and brown," African American studies, as
written in the UCLA General Catalog, serves non-African American
students by providing them "a broadening of perspectives to take
into account more than a singular cultural view."
Connerly, indulging in a quest to eliminate race-based features
in education, has been reprimanded by Regent William Bagley for
"micromanaging" in the university.
Several regents at the UC Regents’ meeting June 18 and 19 at
UCSF also chided Connerly for bringing up the issue of ethnic
graduation ceremonies, because they are usually funded by fees that
are given out without regard to race.
"It’s a morass we shouldn’t get into," said Regent John
Davies.
Professor Nakanishi also expressed his concern with Connerly’s
intrusion on the university’s domain.
"I really hope that he and the other regents think twice before
they try to change, censor, or eliminate classes and degree
programs that have been formally approved and regularly evaluated
by our academic senate," Nakanishi concluded.