The Trump administration is attacking higher education – and UCLA is no exception.
Since the beginning of his second term, the Trump administration has threatened to revoke funding from universities with diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and has specifically condemned UCLA’s equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives. Republican lawmakers have also introduced numerous anti-DEI bills. Universities around the country have closed their DEI offices and removed inclusive language from websites to avoid losing federal funding.
The Trump administration’s policies have the potential to uproot programs that serve members of underrepresented communities on campus. This includes ethnic studies departments, such as the African American studies and Chicana/o and Central American studies departments. These departments offer opportunities for students to engage with the backgrounds and experiences of different cultures and create programs that aid marginalized students on campus, such as the Chicano Studies Research Center.
[Related: Central American Studies is for everyone. UCLA needs to expand the course catalog]
It is crucial for UCLA to continue protecting the diversity of our curriculum amid the Trump administration’s destabilization of higher education. As the top public university in the nation, UCLA should be a vocal supporter of ethnic studies and academic freedom.
Dismantling ethnic studies departments causes harm. While UCLA hasn’t made any known changes to those programs, it did instruct certain diversity programs – like the Bruins Unidos: The Latinx Student Experience – to change their names amid federal DEI scrutiny.
“The downside is just oppression,” said Kasandra Enriquez, a third-year psychology student, when asked about the impacts of the federal government’s attacks on diversity in higher education. “It minimizes our voices.”
Ethnic studies courses, as an extension of diversity initiatives, face the danger of elimination or alteration.
Universities that have eliminated, or are planning to eliminate, ethnic studies courses include Texas A&M University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Florida.
“It’s an attack on academic freedom as a whole,” said Jonah Wood, a second-year political science student.
Protecting its ethnic studies programs allows UCLA to set an example for institutions nationwide that defending academia’s progress toward inclusion should be a priority.
“We have a responsibility to be informed,” said Paul Kroskrity, the chair of the American Indian Studies department. “Without knowing that history, we can’t act as knowledgeable citizens.”
Appeasing the federal government not only impacts students but also sends a message that promoting diversity is not a worthy undertaking.
“People look to UCLA as a leader in this field, so that if it’s doing something that is very questionable, then I think it could have a bigger impact and a very negative impact,” Kroskrity said.
Academia is meant to promote the pursuit of knowledge. Ethnic studies courses have encouraged underrepresented students to bring their viewpoints to university classrooms. By learning about history and cultures from a multicultural perspective, it can be easier for students to understand each other and appreciate each other’s identities.
UCLA must remember this.
In today’s hostile academic environment, the university is responsible for uplifting ethnic studies programs. As a leader among universities, setting the example that these departments are worth defending should be a top priority to UCLA.
The university must be a vocal champion of ethnic studies.
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