After a string of anti-Semitic and racist incidents on campus, UW-Madison faculty from the four ethnic and indigenous studies departments sent Chancellor Rebecca Blank a proposal with their ideas on how to improve the campus climate for students of color.
The proposal is grounded in recent demands by students of color that the university work to improve cultural competency throughout campus, as well as improve the recruitment and retention of students and faculty of color.
The proposal asks for increased faculty in all ethnic and indigenous studies departments, as well as support for redevelopment of the course “Introduction to Comparative Ethnic Studies.”
Afro-American Studies professor Sandra Adell said the new course would be restructured to rotate between each of the ethnic studies and indigenous studies units, including Afro-American, American Indian, Asian American and Chican@/Latin@ Studies.
The course will be offered by a different department each semester, in which a lead professor from the department offering the course will bring expertise to the class. Guest lecturers and special events around campus will represent other areas of ethnic and indigenous studies.
“I believe that such a course, which would be designed for first-year students, will have a positive effect on campus climate because it will introduce students at the beginning of their academic careers to issues of race, ethnicity, indigeneity and better prepare them to live and work in environments where racism, sexism, and all other forms of bias are not tolerated,” Adell said.
