After years of battling to get a diversity requirement
implemented at UCLA, advocates finally saw a glimmer of support
from a prominent Academic Senate committee.
Last week, the Undergraduate Council ““ one of 22 Senate
committees ““ pledged to revisit the question of how to
implement the proposal next year.
Currently, every University of California campus except UCLA has
some type of diversity requirement.
“I believe this is the first time that the Undergraduate
Council has officially supported the development of the diversity
requirement,” said Council Chairman Raymond Knapp.
The exact details of the plan are still undetermined, which
makes defining the requirement difficult, even though the fight to
bring such a requirement to UCLA has been going on for longer than
15 years.
Diversity requirements at other universities involve students
taking classes about the culture of underrepresented groups in an
effort to better educate the student body about diversity.
The Undergraduate Council passed a motion supporting the idea of
having a requirement, but wants to revisit the issue of
implementation next year and determine the requirement’s
exact structure.
The Faculty Executive and General Education committees have also
expressed support for a proposed requirement, but no formal
approval has been made. Thus no changes to the current curriculum
have been made.
“This sort of thing takes a lot of discussion if
they’re going to have a majority supporting it,” said
Undergraduate Council member Ted Gamelin regarding discussion of
the proposed requirement.
Knapp said the issue will likely be put to a faculty vote to be
held some time during the 2003-2004 academic year, with the result
determining the requirement’s fate.
Though he believes there is strong support for the proposal,
Knapp said faculty support hinges on the final wording of what it
actually entails.
Some proponents of the requirement argue that it would not be a
burden to students, as it could fit into the existing general
education framework as a component of the Society and Cultures GE
division.
Sophia Kozak, Academic Affairs commissioner of the Undergraduate
Students Association Council, has lobbied for adopting the
requirement during her time at UCLA, and said this support from the
committee “opens the door for legislation in the next few
years.”
Kozak said students expect that the committee’s support
will manifest itself with the formation of a subcommittee of the
Undergraduate Council designed to promote the requirement.
She emphasized that while this is a positive first step, there
is much more to be done.
“Next year, students are committed to ensuring that what
comes from the proposal is reflective of how students conceptualize
the diversity requirement,” Kozak said.