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Monday, June 29, 1998

Connerly questions ethnic studies

ETHNIC STUDIES: UC Regent inquires about academic value of various majors

By Shannan Rouss

Daily Bruin Contributor

University of California Regent Ward Connerly, well known for his crusade against affirmative action, called into question the ethnic studies programs on UC campuses, doubting their "educational value." He plans an inquiry to determine their academic merit.

"I want to visit privately with a number of faculty members and have them make the case that this is sound academic curriculum rather than the political correctness mindset ... I'm not convinced," Connerly said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.

Connerly also questioned the legality of ethnic graduation ceremonies, saying that such graduation ceremonies serve only to "balkanize" campuses.

"Shouldn't graduation day be the one day when all of our students, regardless of their backgrounds, can unite as one community?" he asked.

Don Nakanishi, professor and director of the Asian American Studies Center at UCLA, was "appalled, but not surprised by Mr. Connerly's latest campaign." Nakanishi welcomed Connerly and other regents to come and learn more about the ethnic studies programs at UCLA.

"I think they will be impressed by our teaching, research, publications, archival collecting and university-public collaborations, which have been ranked as the finest in the nation and world," Nakanishi said.

However, while considering the African American studies program, Connerly charged that such studies are devoid of educational import, having been founded upon the tenets of earlier decades.

"All of the infrastructure created back in the 1970s and '80s as a result of black nationalism and the black power movement, I think we need to re-examine it now," said Connerly.

According to the UCLA General Catalog, the African American studies major was originally designed in the late 1960s and early 1970s "to fill a void that existed at UCLA in terms of scholarly and curricular material relevant to the African American experience."

The major meets "a number of academic, personal and social needs" by examining the African American experience in the United States through a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach, ranging from theater to linguistics.

Noluthandu Williams, a fourth-year African American and international development studies student and chair of the African Student Union, attested to the rigorous academic standards of UCLA's ethnic studies programs. She says the African American studies courses she has taken have been more demanding than many of her other classes.

"Thirteen books and three 10-12 page papers, and that is not scholarship?" she asked, referring to an African American literature class.

The Cesar E. Chavez Center for Chicana and Chicano Studies program also has high academic expectations of it students. Students apply social, economic, educational, historical and political analysis to Chicana and Chicano studies. The major, as explained in the UCLA General Catalog, "provides students with the language and cross-cultural studies background that enhances their qualifications for positions in schools, governmental organizations and private enterprise."

Connerly, remains unconvinced that anything concrete and scholarly is derived from these ethnic studies programs, instead contending that they only serve to perpetuate divisiveness along race lines.

He said there should be cause for concern "if students who take these courses emerge more frustrated and more race-conscious than they were when they entered."

Williams refuted Connerly's comments, saying that raising the level of consciousness amongst students is one of the very goals of ethnic studies. She praised the courses not only for their academic value, but also their avoidance of "extremist or sensationalist curriculum" which appeals to students of all backgrounds.

Although Connerly criticized the classes because "the only students in them are black and brown," African American studies, as written in the UCLA General Catalog, serves non-African American students by providing them "a broadening of perspectives to take into account more than a singular cultural view."

Connerly, indulging in a quest to eliminate race-based features in education, has been reprimanded by Regent William Bagley for "micromanaging" in the university.

Several regents at the UC Regents' meeting June 18 and 19 at UCSF also chided Connerly for bringing up the issue of ethnic graduation ceremonies, because they are usually funded by fees that are given out without regard to race.

"It's a morass we shouldn't get into," said Regent John Davies.

Professor Nakanishi also expressed his concern with Connerly's intrusion on the university's domain.

"I really hope that he and the other regents think twice before they try to change, censor, or eliminate classes and degree programs that have been formally approved and regularly evaluated by our academic senate," Nakanishi concluded.