A Fiat Lux freshman seminar focused specifically on the black
student experience at UCLA and how black students are affected by
campus demographics is set to be offered for the first time next
quarter.
Fiat Lux seminars are one-unit courses designed for
underclassmen. They were started after Sept. 11, 2001, to provide a
place for students to engage in discussions about current topics
that are not often taught in traditional class settings.
La’Tonya Rease Miles, director of the UCLA McNair Research
Scholars Program, the Academic Advancement Program and the Graduate
Mentoring Program, came up with the idea for her seminar in an
effort to inspire discussion on issues surrounding the
course’s title, “The Black Student Experience at
UCLA.”
“I just wanted to respond to what I was hearing students
say. … My understanding is that many African American students
feel alienated on campus,” Rease Miles said.
Fiat Lux coordinator Beserat Hagos was unsure if previous Fiat
Luxes on UCLA have been taught at the university.
Richard Stevenson, a first-year student who plans to take the
class, said he is looking forward to the upcoming seminar because
many first-year students feel there is no black community on
campus, and that students from other backgrounds do not connect
with black students on campus.
Stevenson, who is black, said the class will be useful “as
long as we have representation from all these different
backgrounds.”
The purpose of the seminar is to “continue to create a
community,” said Rease Miles. “I think the goal is to
bring attention to what is becoming a crisis on campus. We’re
averaging about 125 black students out of a freshman class of
4,000,” she said.
One of the topics she plans to focus on in the seminar is the
change that has occurred since the passage of Proposition 209,
which banned the use of affirmative action in California public
institutions.
The number of black students in universities has declined since
Proposition 209 was passed because “fewer black students are
getting in,” she said.
Rease Miles said she solicited ideas from students and staff on
campus to help her construct the curriculum for the course.
The seminar will focus on a variety of topics, including the
role of black Greek organizations, study strategies for students,
and the role that black student activists have historically served
on campus.
Rease Miles pointed to one area where black students have been
active in changing the demographics of the university ““
namely, recruiting other black students to come to UCLA.
“Once upon a time, all black students were
athletes,” Rease Miles said.
She said it was these athletes who encouraged the university to
go into the community and recruit new students to help diversify
the school.
Stevenson said he thinks the course is necessary because
“there’s a lot of different groups on campus that are
trying to tackle these same questions.”
Professors who want to teach a Fiat Lux seminar complete an
online application that includes a short description of the topic,
sample readings for the quarter, and what quarter they would prefer
to teach the seminar.
Hagos said an advisory committee “approves courses on the
content of their academic merit.”
Fiat Lux freshman seminars explore a wide variety of subjects,
including pop culture phenomena, social and gender issues, and gay
and lesbian topics.
“Fiat lux” is also the motto of the University of
California, meaning “let there be light” in Latin.
“The goal of this program is to give students maximum
exposure in a smaller setting,” Hagos said. “We try to
reach every part of campus.”
Hagos said the seminars “give students an outlet where
they can take a class and express what they are feeling.”