After five semesters of research, a committee of UW-Madison students and faculty completed a report on the ethnic studies requirement recommending the university retain the requirement but with modification.
Phillip Certain, dean of the College of Letters and Science and commissioner of the report, said the review of the ESR was called for in Plan 2008, UW-Madison's diversity initiative.
The report concluded the ESR \has played a valuable role in increasing awareness of diversity on campus.""
According to the report, the ESR grew out of a 1987 incident where a UW-Madison fraternity decorated their ""Fiji Island"" theme party with a large caricature of an ""island native."" The Black Student Union denounced the incident as racist and demanded the university take action to prevent incidents like these from reoccurring. The next year the Letters and Science Faculty Senate added a three-credit ESR for graduation.
Certain said the recent committee's major recommendation was for students to fulfill ESR during their first two years of study and to drop the ethnic studies designation from many upper level courses. He said many students who take an ethnic studies class within their major are just ""dropping in"" and not learning about broad ethnic diversity.
The report also recommended narrowing the focus to ethnic diversity in America. This would mean popular classes, such as the African Storyteller, would no longer fulfill the ESR, said Selena Kohel, a UW-Madison graduate student who served on the
committee.
Kohel said it was necessary to narrow the focus of the ESR so students would be aware that diversity is a real issue in America.
""If we're talking about things that are more distant or removed then it's not going to hit home,"" she said.
The report also recommended expanding the number of ethnic studies courses available, designating an ethnic studies coordinator for the campus and changing the name ESR to ""Ethnic/Racial Diversity in the U.S.""
Moreover, the committee commissioned a survey that showed students generally had a favorable view of the ESR.
Certain acknowledged that many students take ethnic studies classes just to fulfill a requirement, but he said ESR courses are valuable for general education.
""I think in general ethnic studies courses are viewed favorably, but you can't say that every student wants to do it,"" Certain said. ""And particularly the students who put it off until the last minute are typically the students who don't want to take it in the first place.""
The report on the ESR will be discussed at the December meeting of the University Academic Planning Council. This must occur before any new policies can be drafted, said Peter Spear, UW-Madison provost and chairman of the UAPC.
