In a year that has drawn national criticism to UW-Madison for its diversity initiatives, several studies programs and student groups have been pushing the university to develop departments in Chicano/a Studies, Asian and Pacific American Studies and American Indian Studies.
Efforts in the last 20 years have tried to increase the size and scope of these areas of study, most recently culminating in the development of certificate programs. However, some groups believe these programs are unable to meet students' needs.
The creation of departments would allow studies programs to offer not only more classes due to increased staff, but would also allow for students to easily major in the subject.
\A department would work to recruit more Chicano/a students nationwide,"" said Gladys Reyes, co-president of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán. ""If [students] think about their education after they graduate, they will need awareness of the people of Mexican descent.""
MEChA protested outside of College of Letters & Science Dean Philip Certain's office in North Hall last semester to establish a Chicano/a Studies Department.
Certain said he supported their efforts, but had not yet seen a proposal to help create a traditional department. He said the creation of a department is extremely difficult and rare.
""I can't do it with just the stroke of a pen; the faculty as a whole have to do it,"" he said. ""It's extremely rare for a department to get started. The most common way is for it to split off of another department.""
Yet despite the odds, many groups, including the American Indian Studies and Chicano/a Studies Programs, have both been looking to assemble long-range plans to become departments.
While the current Chicano/a Studies Program offers a certificate program, Martha Casey, assistant vice chancellor for academic planning, said it was questionable as to how many students would use the major if the university created it.
""Some feel that the resources that have been put into [the program] have not shown it would be enhanced by going further,"" she said.
Since the creation of a Chicano/a Studies certificate in 1994, seven students have received certificates and none have been given out since 1997, university records indicate. There are currently several students working towards the certificate, according to the program's professors.
L&S Academic Advising Director Greg Medina, who heads the Individual Majors
Program, said while his program allows students to create their own majors, it has not been used for any Chicano/a Studies majors. Medina
said many students are not likely to use the program because of the large initiative required.
""No one has used this program to major in Chicano/a Studies to the best of my knowledge, but we would welcome a proposal from a student who wanted to do that,"" he said. ""Any individual major requires a lot of work on the part of the student.""
Dionne Espinoza, professor of Women's Studies and Chicano/a Studies, said she believed this was mostly due to lack of knowledge of the program.
""I mentioned the individual major to one of the MEChA students and he was genuinely surprised ... so basically the students just do not know [about it],"" she wrote in an e-mail interview.
Espinoza also said she saw an increasing interest in Chicano/a Studies and believed a department would be very beneficial.
""I have only seen a growth in interest on the part of students, especially non-minority students, over my three years here,"" she said. ""Yes, I have a lot of students fulfilling the 'ethnic studies' requirement, but students have a choice of courses to fulfill the requirement. Many are choosing Chicano/a studies.""
Ada Deer, director of the American Indian Studies, said her program had not yet put together a plan to carry out this change. However, she said she hoped the university could recognize a need for an American Indian Studies Department.
""We are doing some focused thinking on this, and we have to develop a mission and goals,"" she said. ""We are a very small group and we are evolving. This is a world-class university and so we should have a world-class [American] Indian Studies department. But we do have a certificate program for now.""
Paul Barrows, vice chancellor for student affairs who did his undergraduate work in African-American Studies, said the requirements to become a regular department are difficult, but other possibilities are available.
""I don't know if this will happen as a traditional department,"" he said. ""Another idea is to establish a virtual department using faculty from all the Big Ten schools. I don't think a [traditional] department will happen unless a key core group of faculty take on this project for the long-haul.\
