African-American Studies Opens Doors of Understanding

Author: Drew Bennet

First, I would like to commend The Campus' staff editorial for finally taking a controversial stand on an issue rather than spouting moderate rhetoric overly informed by the Student Government Association (SGA) and policies favored by the administration as per their usual method. Unfortunately, the editors of The Campus, in their article refuting the need for an African-American Studies Department at Middlebury, have taken a stance mired in a misunderstanding of the meaning of diversity and the College's failure to achieve it.

The editorial claims that it is impractical for the College to have an African-American Studies Department because, logistically, there is neither the infrastructure nor the faculty resources for it. This is like saying a college shouldn't have a campus newspaper because there is not an adequate staff or technology to run it. Wake up! We lack the resources for expanding an African-American Studies Department because there is no department! There is, however, a demand for such a department among the student body (see the following page after said editorial in last week's newspaper), and it is only through such demands that the administration will act to remedy our current lack of diversity among the faculty and the College's course catalogue.

The editors of The Campus argue that this remedy, in terms of African-American Studies, would divert resources away from the teaching of "Irish-American, Asian-American, German-American and Native American" studies. This is an extremely narrow view of the potential for an African-American Studies Department at Middlebury, one that would recognize (as it does at most institutions) the fact that the history of Irish-Americans, etc. is directly linked to the history of the African-American and that we cannot learn "what it means — socially and culturally— to be an American" without learning what it means to be African-American. The authors essentially charge African-American Studies programs with "diminishing our understanding of this and other nations." This logic astounds me and seems to be in itself the biggest threat to our understanding of the world through diverse perspectives.

The reality is that this campus is in desperate need of an African-American Studies Department, which could open doors of opportunity for a better understanding of American history and for a more diverse campus, especially in terms of our faculty and courses.

The current American Civilization Department is insufficient in achieving such a goal. There is an African-American "program" (you can focus in it and minor in it) within this department, yet it has no budget, only two tenured professors (one just this year), and slim course offerings found in assorted departments. The Campus editors cite the ridiculously slow process/torture by which the Women and Gender Studies program had to come into existence and claim that "the momentum [for such departments and majors] should come from within the faculty." In fact, faculty at Middlebury have been critiquing the lack of diversity in College courses and professors since the King Report in 1968 and student demand for an African-American Studies program dates back to the mid '80s.

So, to the editor: How long do we have to wait? How long until people within the academy realize that African-American and other minority studies are not simply a conglomerate of abstractions that you can discard as political rather than academic? Middlebury College can only afford to debate the structure of such a program, not the necessity for it. It is this College's mission to foster an understanding of the world through diverse perspectives, and only by addressing current deficiencies in the institution's diversity can progress towards this mission be made. The editors of The Campus, on the other hand, would rather we be satisfied with the "College's acknowledgement of its [an African-American Studies Minor] importance." Well, thanks for the acknowledgement, but the students who The Campus voice doesn't speak for should opt for real change.