Calling for a Visibly Diverse Curriculum Advocates of African-American Studies Major Defend SGA Petition

Author: Nicha Rakpanichmanee

The Student Government Association (SGA) triggered a campus-wide discussion of racial diversity at Middlebury College with its recent petition to establish an African-American Studies major.

Proponents of the SGA's initiative have called on the College to expand the existing minor program into a full-fledged major. Some supporters of the petition have extended the question of limited diversity beyond the academic realm.

Athenia Fischer '04, treasurer of the African-American Alliance (AAA), has been working closely with the SGA Presidential Cabinet on the proposal. An African-American Studies major would create an inclusive environment for minority students, she said. "[African-American] students would feel like they're a part of the community, by being able to educate themselves about their culture," commented Fisher. According to her, minority students in "the more homogeneous college experience" often feel that "they have too much power taken away from them."

Fischer expressed concern that not only were current African- American Studies courses limited in interdepartmental disciplines, but that professors in the program were not racially diverse. "[Professor of American Literature and Civilization] Will Nash is a great teacher," explained Fischer. "He's Caucasian, but he knows a lot about African- American history. I have pride in him on that, but we should have many African-American professors because only people who are the same understand each other. Not to say that [Nash] doesn't know his stuff. He definitely can sympathize. But if you look like me, you've probably gone through something that I've gone through," she continued.

Associate Provost for Institutional Diversity Roman Graf noted that while Middlebury has a 15 percent non-white American student body and 11 percent international students, only 12 percent of the faculty is non-white. "We now have a more diverse student body than faculty, which is problematic," said Graf. "It's the case at just about every liberal arts college, especially in places like New England where the [minority] population is lacking."

While Graf's office has been actively recruiting minority faculty, he admitted that "attracting faculty of color" is one of the College's "biggest challenges" due to Vermont's 98.6 percent white population. "Because we're in such a rural area, because we're so small, it's difficult to present a [minority] community to candidates where there is not one."

Senior Adviser for Institutional Diversity Leroy Nesbitt added that when minority students see professors who "look like them" around campus, "they feel more confident."

"It's a visibility issue," Graf affirmed. "Where you don't see yourself in the system, you don't have an immediate connection." Race, said Graf, "is highly visible."

"I've heard students of all backgrounds tell me that they would like to see the College develop more sensitivity to their issues," said Nesbitt. "Students interested in cross-cultural experiences would welcome things all year round that deal with creating more conversations across racial barriers."

While the SGA initiative is calling for more cross-cultural conversations in academics,many of these conversations are currently fostered at the Pan-African-Latino-Asian-Native American (PALANA) Center. Established in 1991, PALANA has served as a residential forum for both formal and casual learning and discussion of racial interactions. In addition to housing students of all races, PALANA hosts lectures, dinners and community outreach programs focused on multiculturalism.

"It's not where just black kids live together," said Graf. "It's a house where people interested in multicultural issues live together, and they live those issues."

To "live" more African-American issues within the curriculum is the rationale behind the SGA initiative. Nesbitt warned against the misconception that only African America students would be interested in African-American Studies. "People taking these courses might want to know a bit about African-American history such that they can think about the history of race relations," he explained. "In order to look at my issue, I need to look at another group, another issue, so that I can have cross-references."

"If the entire campus could be a PALANA, that would be ideal," continued Graf. "If all of campus were PALANA, we would have reached our goal."

Graf added, "Once you have a different looking faculty, you'll have a different-looking student body, and you'll probably have a different looking curriculum."

The African-American Studies major, however, does not guarantee "physical diversity," said Morgan Jones '04, AAA parliamentarian. "We have [a] Japanese [major], but we don't have that many Japanese students," he noted. Rather, Jones emphasized the importance of "diversity of the mind."

While both forms of diversity complement one another, said Jones, "an African-American Studies major would only diversify the campus curriculum more, but I don't think it's going to make a huge impact [on student demographics]."