The University is a haven for scholars, with a library system featuring thousands of books from around the globe and international students galore. The admissions office turns away hoards of students every year who yearn to be a part of the global community that is the University. But there's a glaring problem: we have the books in our libraries and the brilliant minds lusting to solve problems global in scope, but we don't have a curriculum that fully utilizes either.
The Capital Campaign, which will allow us to hire many new faculty in the coming years, provides an opportunity to effect change in the curriculum. This is why we have to act now to determine, from the student perspective, where our curriculum is weak and how we must enact change.
The plan and the fall referendum for curriculum globalization are exactly what they sound like -- a push for a more globalized curriculum. I have not proposed eliminating Western Civilization, nor have I proposed changing the syllibi of current classes. The plan involves adding classes to the curriculum at a time when they are needed the most; when the world is getting smaller and America is no longer the workplace for which all of us are destined.
In recent critiques, opponents of the plan have claimed there are plenty of classes global in scope at the University. What has not been accounted for is the fact that most of the non-Western classes in the COD are not only over-enrolled, but also have long waiting lists. Even if more class sections are added, these classes should not be the limit to what we offer at the University.
My plan is made up of four parts: enhancing of language programs to follow international trends regarding language education, enhancing minority group studies, establishing more courses to address race issues from multiple ideological perspectives, and reevaluating the scope of global curricula within individual academic departments.
As for the crux of the plan, I will first address languages. Currently students have significant problems enrolling in classes of the languages most-spoken in the world -- namely Arabic, Chinese and Japanese. Asian and Middle Eastern language classes have far too long been relegated to one overworked and overburdened department. We need many more teachers in these areas.
In addition, it is utterly absurd that our cultural CIOs are having to use SAF funds to teach their heritage languages. I am not proposing that we offer every language known to mankind -- rather that we gauge student interest to determine what languages are most in demand through efforts of the new subcommittee. Finally, we teach no sub-Saharan languages at the University. We must address the fact that other institutions of our caliber, such as Berkeley, offer more than 20 more languages than we do.
Secondly, we need to enhance our minority group studies at the University and establish the foundation for an ethnic studies program. This involves enhancing Asian-Pacific American, Latino American, and Queer studies. You may ask "What do Queer studies have to do with a global curriculum?" The SWAG department, which is currently working on such a program, hopes to establish a Queer studies program with an international scope. I cannot speak for the department, but the change that's on the horizon is directly related to globalizing the curriculum, and we cannot overlook it.
Third, and most controversial, we need to provide courses about race that don't alienate part of our student population. Anthropology Prof., Richard Handler admits that his class "Racism, Nationalism and Multiculturalism" that has become a staple of the anthro curriculum scares away most students falling on the right side of the political spectrum. Thus, how classes on race can incorporate different ideological perspectives in both professor and student makeup is something that we need to address.
Fourth, the Student Council Committee on Diversity Initiatives is currently forming a subcommittee of students majoring in global subjects. The subcommittee will work with students in these departments to determine where the curriculum is weak and present our findings to each department.
The plan is not a massive Communist plot to inculcate liberal values as has been suggested by some nasty emails. It is meant to counter trends prevalent in the American University system that are well outdated. If the University is the leader it alleges to be, why aren't we following international trends that indicate the new avenues of knowledge that need to be explored?
If we want to be the number one public institution in the country, we must take action now. If the administration wants to provide the best education for students and prepare them for life after college, it will not ignore our cry for curriculum globalization. And we should not hinder ourselves and our futures by standing in its way.
Ryan McElveen is the chair of the Student Council Committee on Diversity Initiatives. He is a third year in the College.
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