UCLA to get African American studies department
UCLA’s Academic Senate unanimously voted Thursday to establish an Afro-American studies department. The move means that the current interdepartmental program will be dismantled.
The Legislative Assembly, a committee of the Academic Senate, approved the creation of a department after it was officially proposed more than a year ago, said Jan Reiff, the chair of the Academic Senate. The university hopes to have the department fully established by the fall, Reiff added.
The Department of African American studies will be able to offer more classes, recruit more faculty members, and provide more academic resources than the current interdepartmental program, according to a 434 page proposal that called for departmentalization.
The department of Asian American Studies was established in 2004 and the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o Studies was established a year later.
Is the establishment of an African American studies program at UCLA a bit late?
Should all collegiate majority institutions have an African American studies program?
Sound off below!
