By Kamilah Moore, Janay Williams and Darren Ramalho
The Afrikan Student Union at UCLA has a rich history on the UCLA campus dating back to 1966. One of the strongest black student demands in 1967 and 1968 was for the creation of a Center for Afro-American Studies. In fact, two black UCLA students, Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter and John Jerome Huggins Jr., who were leaders in the Black Panther Party and also participants in the High Potential Program, UCLA’s first and the nation’s second special action admissions program, were murdered in Campbell Hall during talks of the program’s future.
Consequently, progress slowed and five years later, in the 1974-1975 academic year, the Afro-American studies interdepartmental program was founded. Almost 40 years later, on Friday, Dec. 6 2013 the Undergraduate Council within the UCLA Academic Senate is set to vote on the proposal to convert the existing academic Interdepartmental Program in Afro-American Studies at UCLA to an academic department that will be called the Department of African American Studies and be housed in the Division of the Social Sciences in the College of Letters and Science.
From the very beginning of American history, black Americans have formed an economically, socially and culturally significant part of America. Despite the obvious importance of black Americans however, neither the public at large nor scholars at UCLA know much about their precise role in American society, about the scope, quality and significance of their contributions to American culture or about the impact of their actions on the attitudes and institutions of American society and the global community.
The benefits of departmentalization are numerous. A department will attract more undergraduates, graduates and faculty to UCLA and promote greater retention of black scholars and students. For the over-100 undergraduate students that choose to major or minor in Afro-American studies, and for the approximate 1,200 enrollment seats for Afro-American courses each academic year, departmentalization will allow for a larger variety of classes and added support from faculty and community members.
For UCLA faculty members already doing work in the area of African American studies, departmentalization will provide much-needed funds to finance projects and more effective facilitation of the exchange of ideas and information. For the larger university faculty, it will serve as a source of information that faculty members may be able to use in their own areas of special interest. Thus, the departmentalization of the Afro-American studies program would further demonstrate a commitment by the university to celebrate diversity and further legitimize the importance of the black experience as a valid educational focus.
Traditionally, study centers have been academic institutions directing their main thrust to research and the proliferation of printed material. This kind of exclusive academic institution would have no relevance to the black community. Black people cannot afford the luxury of any institution which separates thought from action. Commitment must in part be measured by devotion and work. The Afrikan Student Union, in collaboration with the Undergraduate Students Association Council Academic Affairs Commission, will do everything in its power to educate the student body as to why the departmentalization of the Afro-American studies program is important and will work to ensure that the department is well-supported for years to come.
Moore is the chair of the Afrikan Student Union. Williams is a member of the Academic Climate Committee of the Academic Affairs Commission. Ramalho is the USAC academic affairs commissioner.
As an African-American student at UCLA, this is highly frustrating.
If you want the African-American student body at UCLA to progress, don’t encourage them to pursue politically charged and effectively useless degrees such as African-American Studies as opposed to engineering or other hard sciences.
We don’t need more Black professional victims, we need more Black doctors and engineers.
No appreciation, respect, or love for your own culture and history.
How can you expect equality and social justice with such a self-discriminatory attitude?
I love the culture and history of my people. I grew up learning about it on my own and have taken some courses on it, so I know the struggles that my people have endured in this country.
That is exactly why I advocate spending the tens of thousands of dollars and 4 to 5 years in college studying something that will help raise African-American socio-economic status.
Asian-Americans, especially East Asians, are now giving White folks a run for their money cause they’re competing for many high level jobs and doing even better than most White folk are. If we Black folk keep studying non-lucrative fields such as ethnic studies which are nothing more than echo chambers for left-leaning extremists, things will never change.
East Asians may be getting more money, but they’re not getting any more respect, especially if you’re gonna put them on a pedestal like that.
No more respect? Please tell me how there are just as many incarcerated Asian males as there are Black males or that there are as many single Asian mothers as there are single Black mothers. I was simply stating that as a group East Asians have managed to do well for themselves and have set an example that Black people should follow, not that they are superior.
I agree that we need more engineers and scientists in our Afrikan diaspora but there are still larger, structural issues that don’t allow our people the same access to things. Afro-Am Studies is that access because we’ll have access to our history. Can’t know yourself unless you know your history. Also, I am not trying to reify certain narratives of Black subjugation but I am interested in the department being institutionalized because it was the FIRST ethnic studies interdepartmental program on campus but it had not be made into a full fledged dept. WHY?! it’s shade if you ask me. So, when you talk about there are too few Black people in the sciences, you’re also pointing to how there aren’t too many Blacks on a predominately white institution like UCLA that do not even know their own history or have been kept away from that history.
personally, we need more Black people in a lot of different fields. but when you’re pointing to fields that have been established to push capitalism and globalization, I am a little wary.
Great discussion yall. and good work on the article Kamilah, Janay, and Darren.
And I’m a little wary when you define a school where Asians are the largest ethnic population as a “predominantly white institution”. That narrative really doesn’t work unless the institution is actually predominantly white, which it is not.
LOL you’re mad! and yes, UCLA is a PWI!!!! the institution (and a lot of other institutions in America) were established for white people. just because there are many Asian people (and we also need to disaggregate the numbers) doesn’t mean the campus doesn’t push a white, capitalistic, hegemonic regime. zuh!
but continue to be mad and not state your name. I WILL SLEEP EASIER because I love fear and anonymity. 😉
I find it sad that you believe the fields of medicine and engineering have been established to “push capitalism and globalization” rather than viewing them as mediums to give back to the black community who is disproportionately affected by illnesses such as diabetes and AIDS and whose neighborhoods infrastructure is woefully inadequate in comparison to white neighborhoods.
Is that your excuse for not pursuing a lucrative stem degree? Or did you realize that you couldn’t bullshit your way through a STEM program the way you can with an ethnic studies program since math and science aren’t social constructs and you would be graded based on your objective knowledge of things which can tangibly be demonstrated to be true or false rather than how well you can regurgitate your instructor’s opinion and invent new ways to be offended by everything?
hmmm. you seem mad/upset too!!!
look, I don’t claim to know everything or anything. I do not know what the right way is. but yes, all forms of academia and pursuit of careers are pushing capitalism and globalization agendas.
I’m not mad at it. and I don’t care what anyone studies but people need to have the options and depts such as Afro-Am need the money and autonomy to do the great work they want to do.
I already graduated last year and now I’m in graduate school studying art and public policy. I don’t believe school is for people to pursue careers. school, in my belief, and I don’t care if others agree or not, is for expanding your knowledge and applying it accordingly which ever way you want.
I’m in school to learn. I can marry a rich man if I wanted money. or just be broke and homeless. doesn’t matter to me as long as I’m happy and content with what I have.
and you said it first with your snarky question about “pursuing a lucrative stem degree” you claim that anything other than STEM is lucrative and all the rest is worthless. you’re ascribing a value to something. that’s capitalism. that’s what Marx was talking about. zuh!
going to class now Andre Brown!!! thanks for putting your name btw.
Well, the fact that there aren’t many Black people at UCLA is that the numbers of Black students applying to UCLA are low. You can’t expect UCLA to increase their numbers of Black students if there are few of them applying. How can you accept students who don’t even turn in an application? The problem is not with the university; it’s with the lower levels of education. Disadvantaged students of ALL races should be encouraged by their families, friends, and schools to consider an college education.
Just assuming the only students who have interest in African-American studies are African Americans themselves…?
Come on, let’s open our minds a little. Spread and educate our cultures.
My history of oppression is not some hobby for non-Blacks to take up. If you are not Black, you have no place studying African-American studies, PERIOD. Go impose your colonialist non-sense somewhere else.
Only black people are allowed to study the history of African-Americans? That’s super racist.
Lets open our minds a little. Who else realistically is going to want to take African American studies besides African Americans
thats not a slight on the subject just logic…the same would go for “Jewish Studies” probably not a lot of diversity in that field of study
Darren Ramalho e homem branco, nao e negro. Ele e um filha de puta e e um hipocrita tambem.
mmmm, ON POINT! With the white privilege everywhere, every UCLA student should be required to take a class on African American culture!
No one likes a kiss-ass, Darren. I had more respect for you when you were straight up about being a Republican instead of flip-flopping on your ideals. I guess you’re more like Romney than you think, which is why you will always be runner-up, never the victor.
LOL, you’re mad!!! And just because Darren promotes cultural awareness, it doesn’t mean he’s not a Republican anymore? Are you saying that Republicans can’t be Black or like Black people?!
continue to be mad though…I’ll sleep easy.
Listen, Jason Whiteboy Smith: No White person, Darren included, gets to have an opinion on African-American studies. As White people you do NOT get to decide what constitutes racism or oppression. This is not a conversation for you to be included in. If you are not Black, you do not get a say in any part of this so stop playing the White liberal card and just sit down, shut up and know your place. We don’t need your meaningless ally support.
Idk who you are but please get into my credentials. LOL.
I am a Black/Afrikan student, a UCLA Alum. just graduate 2013 and go to NYU Tisch now.
I’m not white.
I just benefit by having a white, anglo name!!! yay me!!!
facebook me. or look up my name in Daily Bruin articles. I’m there with my Afrikan features. 😉
also, once again, I know you spoke without knowing who I was but you shouldn’t insult people and be anonymous. it’s insulting to yourself because you’re fearful of someone retorting back. let’s not be messy and cause drama on the Internet…that was so Myspace…
have a good day. 🙂
Sit down, Jason Smith.
You’re only fooling yourself if you think you can have any sort of authentic Black identity while bearing such an Anglo name. Check your privilege, cause you are a beneficiary of White privilege.
When you applied to UCLA and NYU your name didn’t sound threatening to the White institutions and thus allowed you to be treated as White, while the rest of us with names like Dayquan and Tyrone weren’t as privileged.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you were mulatto too and grew up upper middle class. For the purposes of discrimination, you are WHITE. So you don’t get a say in this discussion, PERIOD.
I feel that if you’re upset that your name hurter your chances of getting into college, don’t blame those who have, what you call, “White” names. That wasn’t their fault. If anyone’s it’s whoever gave you that name.
People have to realize that life is a game. It was a game a million years ago when people had to fight to stay alive, and it is that same game now. It’s a game in education, where you need good grades and good merits to get in. And it’ll be a game in the real world, where you’ll need good credentials, experience, and social networks to get by. It seems to me that there is an increasing amount go people — adults and students alike — that are beginning to believe that because they are advantaged or disadvantaged, black or white, rich or poor, they are entitled to anything. Nobody is entitled to money, work, or success. These are things people pursue. I personally dislike students who come into a class thinking that they’re entitled to an A and starting crying, “Wolf!” when they feel like nothing is going there way and that professors are out to get them. Just like this whole sit-in in the education school: grammar and spelling corrections are apparently now forms of racist micro-aggressions? Are you kidding me? Something as objective as a grammar/spelling correction is now considered a form of racism…?
Life is a game people. Learn to play it. Not everyone will want you to succeed, no matter who you are or what you look like. There is always going to be someone who wants to have the prize you’re eyeing. It’s up to you, and only you, to get yourself there.
FURTHERMORE: Telling people they’re wrong and that they can’t have an opinion is by far the greatest method of creating an open discussion and open dialogue…. Huh…
The sooner we stop acting based on race, the sooning we can stop *reacting* based on race.