College Highlights African-American Studies Options

Author: Andrea Gissing

Three options are currently available for students wishing to pursue studies in African-American Studies. First, they can minor in African-American Studies. Second, they can pursue a major in African-American Studies through the Independent Scholars program. Last, they can make African-American Studies their concentration within the American Civilizations major. Many students are unaware of this third option, however, as it has not been specifically stated in the course catalog.

Associate Provost and Associate Professor of American Literature and Civilizations Tim Spears and Student Government Association (SGA) Director of Academic Affairs Suzanne Slarsky '02 have collaborated this year to ensure that the language in the course catalog will be changed for the upcoming academic year.

"Making African-American Studies a concentration within American Civilization does not constitute a change to the major," said Spears. "Rather, we have clarified the language in the catalog so that students are more aware of what is possible to study, and focus on, as an American Civilization major."

While this new wording makes the option to pursue African-American Studies within the American Civilization major more visible, there are still some concerns about how much of an effect this will have on the development of an African-American Studies program at Middlebury.

"An African-American Studies program examines, from numerous disciplinary perspectives, the experiences of people of African descent in black Atlantic societies," said Randy Cofield '02. "Students should be exposed to the historical, cultural, political, economic and social development of people of African descent. Having African-American Studies as a concentration within the American Civilization department would not allow a student to gain a complete undergraduate understanding of what the black experience has been and still is today."

"I believe African-American culture, history and literature should be studied within the American Civilization major. In fact, it already is," affirmed Spears. "Of course, that doesn't mean that Middlebury couldn't also offer an African-American major or establish a program or department in African-American Studies. Should Middlebury establish a deparment of African-American Studies? That is a question about resources and curricular philosophy, which I am sure would be vigorously discussed should it come before the faculty."

Among the SGA's initiatives this past year, the development of the current African-American Studies program at Middlebury has been one of the most publicized. SGA President Brian Elworthy '02.5 said that he and Slarsky wanted to demonstrate to the College campus that "the interest [in an African-American Studies major] exists among students and it's time for a sustained discussion."

Dialogue on the establishment of an African-American Studies major began last year during Elworthy's campaign, especially through meetings with several student organizations, including the African American Alliance (AAA) and the Pan African Latino Asian Native American (PALANA) Center. "The College attracts an increasingly diverse student body with increasingly diverse interests, and we should continue to reflect this in our curriculum," said Elworthy.

On March 13, the SGA published a petition in The Middlebury Campus showing over 500 student signatures supporting the establishment of an African-American Studies major. The latest progress accomplished by the SGA is not an African-American Studies major, but a clarification of a pre-existing option within the American Civilization department. Nevertheless, the PALANA Center honored Elworthy and the SGA last Wednesday night with a certificate of recognition for the group's efforts in bringing the issue of African-American Studies to the public eye.

"This recognition shows that the SGA is starting to address issues that in the past may have been inadvertently overlooked," said Elworthy. "It is also a reminder to the SGA that the PALANA [Center], and all the student organizations on campus, are a true asset and an integral component of effective leadership because we represent them, we answer to them and therefore we must listen to them."