PROPOSED

6/5/87

UCSO E'THN1:C SnJDIES

POLICY

This statement is a proposed response to the L'CEPresolution that was approved by

the Academic Council on January 14, 1987. This resolution in turn is a response
to Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 71, introduced in the California
Legislature
on April 28, 1983.

UCSDpresently offers its students a wide array of courses in ethnic

studies,
taught in the Departments of Anthropology, History, Literature,
Music,
Political
Science, Sociology, Theatre, and Visual Arts, ar~ in the Programs of
Chicano Studies, Third World Studies, and Urban Studies and Planning.
By "ethnic
studies"
we refer to any course substantially
devoted to the study of some aspect
of the experience of nonwhite1 ethnic ~ups
in the U.S. (Call this "Definition
1;" see also further discussion below of the definition
of "ethnic studies").
We share the concerns expressed in the State Assembly and UCAcademic
Council Resplutions regarding the role of ethnic studies in helping to educate
students for citizenship
in a democratic society under modern conditions.
These
conditions' significantly
include the fact that citizens are deeply divided in
their religious
beliefs,
ethnic and cultural
loyalties,
worldviews and
fundamental values, and in their aspirations
regarding the kind of life that they
wish to lead and to make possible for their children.
Moreover, these
divergences are a permanent feature of modern life.
It is not feasible (even by
means of extreme tyranny) to eradicate these differences and of course it would
be e:ctremely undesirable to do 'so even if it were possible.
Yet these
differences
can stimulate racism and bigotry.
In order to maintain good order in
a democracy it is necessary that culturally
diverse citizens learn to live
together amicably on the basis of a shared collllJlitmentto justice,
toleration,
and
mutual respect.
The problematic just sketched holds for all modern democraCies
but perhaps particularly
for the U.S., which has a long history of ethnic
di versi ty and conflict
(including slavery and' the conquest of native Americans)
and is, now coping with a new w~ve of illlIJligration.
Ethnic studies can contribute to the goal of educating students for
responsible citizenship
in a diverse democracy. Students who are membersof
nonwhite ethnic minorities can use such courses to help "discover their roots."
All students can use such courses to learn about'
culture other than their own
and to discover how members of that culture use its resources to lead lives that
are worthy of respect.
Students taking ethnic studies courses can investigate
the causes of discrimination,
stereotyping,
and divisive conflict.
Just to state
these three kinds of contribution calls attention
to the obvious fact that at
least the second and third of'them can also be achieved by manycourses that do
not fit into t~'lece.tiegor-yof ethnic studies as defined above. The questions then
arise: What construal of "ethnic studies" best accords with the underlying intent
of the Acru:iemicCouncil and State Assembly resolutions?
And given a construal of
"ethnic studies,"
what policy on ethnic studies will best advance the goal of
educating citizens for a diverse democracy?
Besides Definition 1 stipulated
three paragraphs back, three others-~one
narrower, two broader-~are worth mention. An etlinic studies course might be
taken to be one 'substantially
devoted to the study of:
.- 2. Nonwhite ethnic groups that either have been significant
in the history
of the State of Califontlh or are presently a significant component of the
population of the, State of California. '

a.

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3. Nonwhite ethnic groups in the U.S. or the areas of origin of any of

lfroups.
4.
Nonwhi
te ethnic groups in the U.S. or the areas of origin of any of
th S lfroupa or any non-Western society.
P rhaps som millht wish to query the exclusion of the study of white ethnic
/l=upa in th U.S. from th purview of an ethnic studies policy. In our view, in
U. S. his tory-particularly
in recent years--the discrimination and prejudice
fae
by nonwhite ethnic minorities have been far greater than what ~nite ethnics
hav h.o.d to confront, so ther is special reason in the CSBeof non\.onitegroups
to be cone rn
about their access to the univ Nlity and their past exclusion
from th core curriculum.
W
li v all the definitions listed above have merit (perhaps #4 is more
llCCurat ly 18 lled
definition of "Third World Studies").
An et:hnic studies
policy compri es at least two issues: (1) detennining that an appropriate mix of
thnic studie courses i offered on the campus and (2) determining ~nether an
thnio studies r quirement should be included in the core curr-Icul om as part of
th ca.mpuswideIleneral education requirements. As to (1), we are especially
concerned with the adequacy of ethnic studies offerings in the narrower senses
(e.g., offerings in Asian-AmericanStudies and Filipino-Americsn studies).
As to
(2), w feel a broader construal is appropriate.
thes

Our chief reo II11erdEi.tion is that USCD should institute

studies requirement, as i'ollows:

one-course ethnic

Stu:lerits must ccap1ete ODe course that stu:lies a

nonwhi. te ethnic minority group or groups in the U. S.
or one course that studies the area of origin of one
or IIlOresuch groups.
Including an ethnic studies requirement in the core CUITiculUIn
strikes us as
the only effective way to ensure that all UCSD gTarloatesWill have been asked to
ponder issues of ethnicity at somepoint in their education. Equally important,
including ethnic studies in the core CUITiculum
can be one ~-ayof signalling the
cOllllllitment
of UCSD
to maintain a multicultural learning environment in ~nich all
the diverse elements of the state's population .are
welcome.
. Our suggestion. then is that this requirement should be included in the
campuswideminimal general education requirements that are enforced by the
Coumittee of Educational Policy.
Wedo not envisage that the addition of an ethnic studies requirement should
add 't~the total number'of courses required for graduation in any of the UCSD
colleges.
An ethnic studies requirement wouldmerely stipulate that amongthe
courses which students take in order to' satisfy ~xisting requirements; one of
them must be an ethnic. studies cour-se,
. .
The deta.i.Laof implementation of any such requirement would of course be
left to the individual colleges.
For the record, our opinion is that
establishing a single campuswiderequired ethnic studies course or even a single
course for a given college would be unwise regimentation. Instead our proposal
is that students should have the freedom to choose a single course from a wide
variety of courses that are deemedto meet the spirit of the requirement.
Webelieve that acquiring further knowledgeabout the present state of
ethnic studies on this campus.would help guide the choice of policies to help
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them flourish.
Accordingly, our second recoamendation
a com:nittee charged with the following tasks:

is that

CEP should appoint

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1. To determine as best it can the adequacy of e.xi.sting ethnic stuiies

course offerings
and to identify
any subject
areas or types of courses that would
usefully
complement the present array of courses offered.
2. To ~
the academic administration
of ethnic studies course
offerings
at
with the administrative
set-up at other"U; C8rnp.lSesand at
other universities
whose' experience in this regard might be instructive.
An
e.'CBIIIpleof a question that might be addressed under this heading is whether the
developnent
and staffing
of ethnic studies courses is best done through regular
academic departments or through speciallY designated ethnic studies programs or
in some other Way' (e.g.,
sponsorship by the college provosts).
3.
To gather information about the number of u:sD stu:ients who presently
enroll
in ethnic studies courses.
4.
To recaxmend mechanisms for developing and staffing
courses that would
be valuable but are not presently offered (if such there be).
5. To consider what, if anything, might usefully be done to increase
student awareness of ethnic studies course offerings and to encou:r:age student;enrollment in them. For example, a suitable
list of ethnic studies courses might
be published
in the
catalog.

u:sn

u:sn

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Finally,
a caveat.
This proposal is limited in its scope to curricular
matters.
These constitute
a small piece of a large problematic.
It goes without
saying that renewed affirmative
action efforts
to hire minority faculty at UCSD
will do much to create an academic environment that fosters a healthy respect for
ethnicity.
In the same spirit
we note the familiar fact that many aspects of the
academic and social life on campus other than the content of courses impinge
significantly
on the extent to which UCSD students will "acquire an a..areness,
knowledge, and understanding of ethnicity"
(Academic Council Resolution,
January
14, 1987).
For instance,
it is crucial for'the
goal of educating students for a
diverse democracy that we maintain and enhance the quality of civilized
living in
,integrated
dormitories
while drawing commuter students into a multicultural
campus life.
This proposal limits itself
to issues that lie within the purview
of CEP.
Subni tted by Third College Curriculum and Academic Affa..irs Colllmi
ttee: , Richard
Arneson, Philosophy; Robert Cancel, Literature;
Charles Cooper. Literature;
Steven Erie, Political
Science; Ronald 'Evans , ~~thematics; 'Louis Hock, Visual
Arts; Enrique Lueo, AMES;Ed"ard Reynolds,' History; and Gordon Schlesinger,
~\themistry.
....
-....
'

-,

Note.
~The
t.enn "nonwhite" should be. understood as anconrpaasi.ng Hispanic Americans.
Our understanding of the tenn follows the usage of State Assembly Concurrent
Resolutlon

No. 71, 1983.

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APPENDIX

Stated below are three alternative

proposals for a campuswide ethnic studies
general education requirement.
Each proposal is followed by a listing
of the
courses
(from the 1986-87 UCSDcatalog)
that could be taken to satisfy
it.
This
listing
is intended merely to provide a rough idea of what would be involved in
establishing
such a requirement;
if a requirement along these lines is approved,
we presume that the college academic advisors would issue lists of approved
courses that would be updated from year to year.
In passing we mention that some members of the Third College CAACfavor the
wording that is narrower than what we officially
recommend, some favor the
broader wording, some no such requirement at all.
u::: Santa Cruz instituted a
variant
of wording ,';3 as a graduation requirement in Fall, 1986.
In drawing up the following lists,
we excluded linguistics
courses and
introductory
language instruction
courses (i.e.
lower-division
foreign language
courses)

#1. Students must complete one course that studies a nom-iii te ethnic minori ty
group or groups in the U.S.
Any of the following courses would meet this requirement: Anthropology 30,
126, and 181; Chicano Studies/Theatre
15 and 142; Chicano Studies 153; Chicano
Studies/History
155A,,,155B,
and 155Q; Chicano Studies/Third
World Studies 132;
History/Third
World Studies 7A, 78, & 7C; History 155Q, 159A, 159B, and 159Q;
Literature:
English-American 180, 18ZA, l82B, 183, 184, 185, and 187; Literature:
Spanish 140, 141, 143, 144, 150, 151, 152, 153, and 154; Music 127A and 1278;
Political
Science/Third
World Studies 15; Theatre 16, 141, and 142; Third World
Studies 133; Teacher Ed.{,cation Program 193; Urban Studies and Planning 118, 150,
and 151; and Visual Arts l26D.
,';2. Students must complete one course that studies a nonr.iJite ethnic minority
group or groups in the U.S. or one course that studies the area of origin of one
or more such groups.
Any of the following
courses would meet this requirement: All of the courses
listed
under #1 above, plus Anthropology 31, 32, 33, 103, 104, and 109; Chicano
Studies 170 and 183; History lA, lB, 1C, 140A, 140B, 14OC, 14OQ, 141, 141Q, 143,
144, 144Q, 145Q, 146A, 146B, 146Q, 147, 147Q, 148A, 148B, 149, 175A, 1758, 176,
177, i77Q, 178; 178Q, 18lA; 181B, 181C, 182, 183, 184, 185Q, 187Q, 188Q, and
189Q; History/Third
World Studies 24, 25, 26, and 27; Literature:
Chinese 101,
120, 150A, 150B, and 150C; Literature:
General 133A, 133B, 133C, 134" 136, 137,
138, 146, and 147; Literature:
Spanish 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 131, 142,
163, and 172; ,Political
Science/Third 'World Studies 14; Political
Science 130B,
I30D, 134AA, 134AB, 134B, 134C, 134D, 134G, 1341, 134J, 136A, 146A, 146a~, 146BB,
146C, and 146D;"Sociology 151, 188A, 188B, and 188D; Third World Studies 130,
132, and 134; and Visual Arts 126A.
#3.
Stuients
must comple'te one course that studies a nonwhite ethnic group or
groups in the U.S. or a course that studies the area of origin of one or more
such groups or a course that studies a non-Western society.
(Note: a non-Western society is taken to be one not included within the
mainstream development of European civilization
from the ancient Hebrews,and the
ancient Greeks to the present.
Islamic cultures are counted as non-Western;
Russia is counted as Western, Australia and NewZealand (though not the history
of the indigenous aborigines)
are counted as, Western. )
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Any of the folloing courses would meet this requirement: any of the courses
listed under :1 and :2 above, plus Anthropology 13, 135, 137, 149, 162, and 166;
History 134; Political Science 130G, 130H, 1301, 135A, and 150A; Sociology 188C;
Theatre 125; and Visual Arts 13, 126B, and 126C.

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