Create New Major For Good Reasons Students Learn From Professors Who Teach Well, Regardless of Race

Author: Peter Nestor

I do not deny that there may be good reasons to add an African-American Studies major to our curriculum. It is regrettable that none of those reasons were presented in last week's Campus article "Calling for a Visibly Diverse Curriculum." Instead, Athenia Fischer '04 argued that we should expand the current program so that we can attract more "African-American professors because only people who are the same understand each other." Leroy Nesbitt added that an African-American Studies major would allow us to "live" African-American issues in the curriculum.

First, Ms. Fischer's logic questions the ability of professors to teach material about a racial or ethnic class without necessarily being a member of that racial or ethnic class. Her argument undermines the praiseworthy abilities of Professor Will Nash (whose courses in African-American literature Ms. Fischer found laudable), of Professor Don Wyatt who teaches Chinese history, or of Professor Yang Xiao who teaches predominantly Western philosophy and of many other talented professors at Middlebury who teach courses about a race to which they do not belong. On the contrary, students learn better from teachers who teach their material well, regardless of their race.

Outside Middlebury, it is also true that we do not learn better from or only associate ourselves with those who look like us. If we did, Justice Clarence Thomas, for example, would have a very different voting record on affirmative action in the Supreme Court (e.g. Adarand v. Pena, 1995). Two of the staunchest supporters of affirmative action cases over the past 23 years, Justice William Brennan and Justice Harry Blackmun, were white. Moreover, in 1986, the Supreme Court struck down an affirmative action program based on the "role model" rationale, which is similar to Ms. Fischer's logic. The Court held that, "Carried to its logical extreme, the idea that black students are better off with black teachers could lead to the very system the Court rejected in Brown v. Board of Education," i.e. segregated schools (Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education, 476 U.S. at 276, 1986). Surely, that is not what we want here at Middlebury, yet that is exactly what such logic implies.

Second, to "live" more African-American issues in our curriculum would justify adding a major at this school for almost every distinct group of individuals in the student body. If we add an African-American Studies major to "live" those issues, why not add a Puerto Rican Studies major, or Aleutian, Caribbean, Islamic or Tibetan Studies major to "live" those issues as well?

Each of these studies brings a deep canon of literature that is already presented through myriad courses in a range of departments. Such being the case, is it necessary to make the study of each ethnic group a major? If not each ethnic group, then tell us why African-American Studies merits major status and the other ethnic studies do not. There may be distinctions, but it is certainly not because we want to "live" African-American issues in our curriculum more than we want to "live" other racial or ethnic groups.

Finally, student interest alone does not justify adding a major to our curriculum. Student interest in majors fluctuates year to year, but solid academic arguments for majors do not. Once the academic merits of an African-American Studies major are clearly defined and judged to be on par with the academic standards of current majors, and distinguished from other potential ethnic studies majors, an African-American Studies major may be justifiable. If Mr. Roman Graf and others working to create the new major can make those persuasive arguments, then make them. If not, then we should be careful about creating a new major simply on the grounds that we learn better from those who look like us.