Author: Damian Mendieta
Black Student Alliance (BSA) President Brandi Locke (senior) created and distributed an online petition on Feb. 8 to support the creation of a Black/Africana Studies major. The petition sparked widespread enthusiasm from students, quickly reaching several hundred signatures. The proposal, which can be accessed on the BSA’s Facebook page, needs less than 200 more endorsements before it is presented to college administration.
“Our petition aims to show through numbers the support students have by the collection of their signatures as symbolic of their solidarity around this goal,” Locke’s online petition reads. “A program of study is necessary to organize the courses and faculty so that students will be encouraged to challenge themselves in these courses without the stigma and limitations produced by established majors.”
The petition further argues that a Black/Africana Studies program is vital to upholding institutional commitments to diversity and introducing Afrocentric perspectives to mainstream narratives.
According to politics Professor Regina Freer, the fact that Occidental lacks a Black/Africana Studies major goes against the college’s mission and puts it behind its peer institutions.
However, the creation of such a program may take several years, according to Dean of the College Jorge Gonzalez. He said that Occidental focuses on quality rather than speediness when considering new academic majors.
“What we have to have is a lot of patience,” Gonzalez said. “The academic world moves slowly because we are very, very careful about what we do. The fact that it doesn’t happen in a month doesn’t mean that the college lacks an interest in it. The fact that it takes two years is precisely because the College wants to get it right.”
Freer acknowledged that college financial difficulties, among other obstacles, must be considered during the establishment of a Black/Africana Studies major, but should not be limiting factors.
“I don’t think any of those challenges should deem this as something that we can’t accomplish or shouldn’t pursue,” Freer said. “I think that the pursuit itself will lift up a number of issues that students are experiencing that lead to a call for this kind of department, and that is a good thing.”
Gonzalez explained that proposals for new majors undergo extensive evaluation by the Academic Planning Committee (APC) before moving onto a faculty-wide vote. The process does not have a fixed timeframe, as different academic proposals receive varying feedback from the APC, according to Gonzalez. Gonzalez suggested that a Black/Africana Studies program might begin as a minor and later develop into a major.
“For many of these programs that’s what you do: you start with a minor, and over time, you evolve,” Gonzalez said. “In Latino/a and Latin American Studies, you had a minor for many, many years and eventually it evolved into a major. Something like that could happen in this case.”
The petition for the new major has gathered support from faculty, especially Professors Sharla Fett (history), Freer, and James Ford III (English and Comparative Literary Studies), among others. According to Gonzalez, although the creation of a new academic program may begin with student interest, it will eventually depend on heavy faculty investment.
“At this point, there are a group of students who are highly interested in doing this, and I told them it’s time to talk to faculty about this,” Gonzalez said. “This is a faculty-driven process.”
Locke suggested that a Black/Africana studies major could promote the hiring of more black professors, citing the dwindling numbers of female professors of color at the college.
“It’s alarming because we are about to lose one of the two black female professors on campus,” Locke said. “Professor Regina Freer will be the only one on campus after Professor Arthé Anthony retires this year.”
Freer believes that the retention of a diverse faculty is even more important than the addition of a Black/Africana Studies program.
“Apart from whether or not we have a Black
Studies program, the college really needs to pay attention to African-American
faculty recruitment and retention,” Freer said. “In some ways, I can see how [a Black/Africana Studies major] can
possibly make it more attractive for African-American faculty of color to come
to Oxy, but there are probably deeper reasons that need to be looked at.”
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