A Proposal for Departmentalizing Ethnic Studies at the
University of Oregon
October 14, 2007 (Revised April 24, 2008)
I. A Vision for the Future: Diversity, Excellence, and
Stability
Conversion
of the Ethnic Studies Program (ES) at the University of Oregon to a Department
of Ethnic Studies will help the University to remain at the head of the curve
for top public universities. It
will invigorate the UniversityÕs diversity plan with no financial impact. After considering the advantages of
departmentalization, support among faculty and students, the financial impact,
the logistics of small departments in the UniversityÕs College of Arts &
Sciences (CAS), and the national and regional trends among comparable members
of the Association of American Universities (AAU), there exist no compelling
reasons to delay this conversion beyond the 2007-08 academic year.
Renaming
its Ethnic Studies Program to ÒThe Department of Ethnic StudiesÓ would put the
University of Oregon among leading public universities nationally, although it
would only be catching up with leading public institutions regionally. On the University level,
departmentalization would not represent a radical policy departure or change in
direction. To the contrary, it
would entail a continuation of the policy course charted by Dean Stone in
spring of 2006. Waiting for a new
Dean to be in place would only result in unnecessary delay given the minimal
changes departmentalization would lead to with regard to the functioning of ES,
CAS, and the University.
One
common concern regarding ES departmentalization has been the new departmentÕs
ability to fulfill all of the normal functions of a department. The Program, however, already performs
all of the functions of a department, including coordinating degree programs
and conducting tenure-related searches (both joint appointments and
appointments funded 100% in the Program).
Furthermore, once the Program has filled its remaining vacant
tenure-related line, its governing faculty will be comparable to many other CAS
departments. Due to the size of
the ES faculty, one of the conditions for departmentalization laid down by Dean
Stone was the conversion of the Executive Committee to a core faculty. One should note, however, that the ES
Executive Committee has functioned identically to an expanded core faculty
(with full voting rights and full participation on personnel committees) for
nearly a decade. Thus, although
the new configuration of the Core Faculty is relatively new, we have
considerable experience with the general practices entailed by it.
Given
the implementation of the UniversityÕs Diversity Plan, the departmentalization
of Ethnic Studies is timely.
Ethnic Studies has served a crucial role in educating students of color
and international students in CAS and has proven to be one of the most
effective mechanisms for diversifying the CAS faculty. In addition, student support for
departmentalization has remained constant since the inception of ES as a program,
and it shows signs of increasing.
II. In
Pursuit of Excellence: Trends in Ethnic Studies at Comparator Institutions
Nearly
all AAU universities have departments, programs, institutes, or centers with
curricular components in ES-related fields (Appendix I). Of the 60 AAU universities in the United
States, 26 (43%) have ethnic studies or ethnic studies-related units with
departmental status. Seven of these offer doctoral degrees
in Ethnic Studies (UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, USC), African American Studies
(Harvard and Northwestern), Chicana/o Studies (UC Santa Barbara), or Native
American Studies (UC Davis).
The
percentage of AAU universities with ES-related departments increases
significantly, however, for those most similar to the University of Oregon
(Appendix I). For example, while
only 27% of AAU private universities in the United States have ES or ES-related
departments, 56% of AAU publics do.
There are ES-related departments at eight out of the ten AAU public
universities in the western states, and the University of Oregon is alone
among AAU public institutions on the West Coast in not having any ES-related
department.
Beyond
the AAU universities, many public universities on the west coast with which the
University of Oregon may compete for students have ES-related departments
(Appendix II): Oregon State University, the University of California,
Riverside, the University of Hawaii, Washington State University, Humboldt
State University, San Francisco State University, San Diego State University,
and California Polytechnic University.
The following California State Universities also have ES-related
departments: East Bay, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Northridge, and Sacramento.
Among
AAU public universities, regional patterns are significant. In the West, one most often finds a
single department that brings together the study of multiple ethnic groups (UC
Berkeley, UC Davis, UC San Diego, Colorado, Washington). Almost as often, one finds several
departments focusing on the study of individual ethnic groups in the United
States, typically Chicano/Latino, Asian American, and/or African American or
Black Studies (UC Irvine, UC Los Angeles, UC Santa Barbara).
In the
East and Midwest, however, Departments of Africana or African & African
American Studies predominate (Indiana, Rutgers, Stony Brook, Kansas, North
Carolina, Pittsburgh). To a lesser
extent, one also finds departments focusing exclusively on African American
Studies (Buffalo, Maryland, Ohio State, Wisconsin) and Asian American Studies
(Stony Brook). At all of these
types of campuses, additional ethnic studies fields are typically studied in
separate interdisciplinary programs or within American studies departments or
area studies programs. The
University of Minnesota is anomalous as an AAU public university outside the
West in that it has three separate departments of African American and African
Studies, American Indian Studies, and Chicano Studies.
The
University of Oregon would become the fifth AAU university to specifically have
a Department of Ethnic Studies. It
would join many others, however, especially public universities in the West, in
departmentalizing some aspect of the field. ES faculty members at the University of Oregon continue to
believe that the comparative ethnic model that exists at UC Berkeley, Colorado,
Washington, and UC San Diego is the best one for a west coast public
university.
A
Department of Ethnic Studies at the U of O, with six tenure-related faculty
members, would be the smallest multi-ethnicity department among AAU
universities (Appendix III). However,
the new governance model adopted by ES would allow it to function with an
effective faculty size closer to the AAU average of 12.75. This model is obviously not as ideal as
a faculty comprised entirely of dedicated lines. For this reason, we hope that, should additional resources
become available to the University in the future, it would invest in expanding
Ethnic Studies on par with other AAU west coast public universities. However, we do not see our request for
departmentalization as dependent on an increased faculty size.
III. Local Context: Small Departments in the College
of Arts & Sciences
In Fall 2008, the Ethnic Studies Program will
have five faculty members with permanent FTEs in Ethnic Studies: four assistant
professors (Daniel HoSang, Brian Klopotek, Ernesto Mart’nez, and Irmary
Reyes-Santos), one associate professor (Michael Hames-Garc’a), and no full
professors. It is continuing a
tenure-related search in 2008-2009 for an assistant- or associate-level
professor, which should bring this number to six. Of these six positions, only two (HoSang and Mart’nez) are
joint appointments. In addition,
the Program currently has five Òcore facultyÓ members appointed from outside
ES, three of whom are associate professors (Shari Huhndorf, Peggy Pascoe, and
Jiannbin Shiao) and two of whom are full professors (Jeffrey Ostler and Lynn
Stephen). (Shiao is leaving at the
end of 2007-2008.) Under our
governance structure, this means that its core faculty should total nine
members beginning in fall 2008: four assistant professors, three associate
professors, and two full professors.
Furthermore, ES has 29 additional affiliated faculty members. Were it to departmentalize and fill its
vacant line, its core governing faculty would be the seventh smallest among CAS
departments, tied with Philosophy (Appendix IV). Its number of full-time, tenure-track faculty involved in
departmental governance would be larger than that of the departments of
Classics, Theatre Arts, Human Physiology, Religious Studies, Linguistics, and
German and Scandinavian. Of
course, the nature of core faculty appointments means that members not hired in
ES will inevitably divide some of their service commitments with home
departments and likely not contribute student credit hours (SCH) to ES.
Given the comparable size of the ES core faculty
to other small departments in CAS and the stability and high levels of
commitment among the core faculty that have evolved over the past decade, it is
difficult to imagine objections based on the logistics of performing the
day-to-day tasks within an academic department.
In terms of teaching, however, the number of
faculty members contributing SCH to the department will be lower than nearly
all other CAS departments. In this
regard, comparisons with Classics and Theatre Arts are particularly
noteworthy. Classics has four
regular faculty members (fewer than ES), but three additional core
members. As with ES, these
additional core members participate in governance but do not teach courses for
the Department. Theatre Arts has
five regular faculty members, as well as two instructors, but no additional
core faculty members. Both
Classics and Theatre Arts conduct hiring, promotion, and tenure processes
without significant involvement of faculty members outside their core
faculties.
Another noteworthy comparison is with the
Program in Comparative Literature.
COLT currently has one joint appointment
(assistant) and one full appointment (associate). It has just filled another position, a full appointment for
Fall 2008. It also has six tenured
faculty members (including its director) who are the equivalent of ES core
faculty. By comparison, ES is
searching next year for its fourth full appointments (its sixth faculty member
in the Program). It will have four
additional tenured core faculty members next fall. The lack of structural parity between small programs
like COLT and Creative Writing (five fully-appointed faculty members and an
external director), which do not have to cede tenure decisions to other
departments, and the larger ES program, which is not allowed to handle its own
personnel decisions, is striking and difficult to justify.
IV.
Financial Impact of Departmentalization
Although a frequently
expressed concern is that departmentalization cannot take place because of
insufficient resources, no one at the University of Oregon to date has proposed
any significant direct or indirect cost resulting from
departmentalization. The resources
for faculty lines and classified staff have already been committed. There should therefore be no direct
financial impact to CAS resulting from the departmentalization of Ethnic
Studies. ES will need to reprint
business cards and other publicity materials, but this can be accomplished out
of existing ES accounts.
Electronic and print materials for the University can be revised during
the normal course of updating.
Tenure-home departments all support the ceding of personnel decisions to
the program and there is no indication that these departments would need compensation
for the reversion of SCH back to ES, since the courses currently taught for
tenure-home departments has been conceived of as compensation for the handling
of personnel cases.
Although the new
governmental structure of ES has just been elaborated, the Program has been
functioning with a virtually identical governance model for nearly a
decade. We therefore anticipate no
immediate direct financial costs from the new governance model.
We do anticipate that
expansion of ES would be a priority for the University, should additional
resources become available in the future.
This is due in part to the size of ES at the University of Oregon
relative to Ethnic Studies Departments at other AAU public universities. In addition, expansion of Ethnic Studies
has been and should continue to be one of the most effective means for
promoting diversity among students and faculty at the University. To repeat, however, we do not see
departmentalization as contingent upon new resources.
V. Consequences
of Departmentalization for Tenure-Related Faculty
One of
the reasons for pursuing departmental status for ES lies in the peculiarities
of its tenure-related appointments.
Slightly different procedures around tenure and promotion govern each
member of the Program, with two significant consequences. Firstly, and most importantly, outside
units effectively make hiring, tenure, and promotion decisions for the Program
(even when they are not represented on hiring committees). Secondly, faculty members ÒoweÓ
teaching to their tenure homes.
While the faculty members sometimes welcome the opportunity to teach
courses in traditional disciplines, the Program receives no other compensation
for the lost SCH taught by faculty members whose salary and OPE is paid 100% by
ES. This amounts to an annual
ÒtaxÓ on SCH from ES to other departments. This situation is especially burdensome given the small size
of our teaching faculty. In
return, the Program must cede intellectual autonomy, as if it were incapable of
independently determining scholarly quality. These consequences have had a deleterious effect on morale,
influencing the eventual decisions of Jayna Brown and Adria Imada to leave the
UO. They have also sometimes
affected the ProgramÕs ability to successfully hire and recruit the best
faculty in the field of ethnic studies.
It
should be reiterated that not all programs are required to cede such
autonomy. Comparative Literature,
with fewer regular faculty members, has tenure and hiring autonomy. Furthermore, small departments like
Theatre Arts, Classics, Human Physiology, and Religious Studies are not
required to cede decision-making authority in personnel cases to outside
departments.
For
these reasons, regardless of the decision over departmentalization, we request
that individual faculty members with full or partial FTEs in ES be allowed to
renegotiate the terms of their hiring contracts so as to move the decision for
tenure and promotion in part or in full to ES. Initiation of such a renegotiation will be strictly voluntary
and any new agreement will require the approval of all units involved
(including the Director or Head of ES, the Dean, and the original or continuing
tenure home). In the event that a
faculty member does not choose to change the terms of her or his contract or
should all parties be unable to agree on the proposed changes, the original
hiring documents will remain in effect.
For
future hires, ES should be treated equally to other departments and programs
that have the full capacity to tenure and promote.
Appendix I: AAU Universities and Ethnic Studies-Related
Departments
AAU Private
Universities
Brandeis University*
Brown University*
California Institute of Technology
Carnegie Mellon University
Case Western Reserve University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Duke University
Emory University**
Harvard University*
The Johns Hopkins University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
New York University
Northwestern University**
Princeton University
Rice University
Stanford University
Syracuse University**
Tulane University
The University of Chicago
University of Pennsylvania
University of Rochester
University of Southern California****
Vanderbilt University
Washington University in St. Louis
Yale University
*Dept. combining African and
African American Studies
**One or more separate
ES-related depts.
***Dept. in Ethnic Studies
****Dept. in American
Studies & Ethnicity
Italicized universities
have ES-related departments that offer an M.A. and/or Ph.D.
AAU Public
Universities
Indiana University*
Iowa State University
Michigan State University
The Ohio State University*
The Pennsylvania State
University
Purdue University
Rutgers, The State
University of New Jersey*
Stony Brook University-State
University of New York*
Texas A&M University
The University of Arizona
University at Buffalo, The
State University of New York**
University of California,
Berkeley***
University of California,
Davis**
University of California,
Irvine**
University of California,
Los Angeles**
University of California,
San Diego***
University of California,
Santa Barbara**
University of Colorado at
Boulder***
University of Florida
University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign
University of Iowa
The University of Kansas*
University of Maryland at
College Park**
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota,
Twin Cities**
University of
Missouri-Columbia
University of
Nebraska-Lincoln
The University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill*
University of Oregon
University of Pittsburgh*
The University of Texas at
Austin
University of Virginia
University of Washington***
The University of
Wisconsin-Madison**
Appendix II: Selected Non-AAU Universities with ES-Related
Departments
Bowling Green State University
Department of Ethnic Studies
7 tenure-related faculty members
California Polytechnic State University
Ethnic Studies Department
5 tenure-related faculty members
California State University, East Bay
Department of Ethnic Studies
5 tenure-related faculty members
California State University, Los Angeles
Department of Chicano Studies
7 tenure-related faculty members
California State University, Northridge
Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies
30 tenure-related faculty members
California State University, Sacramento
Ethnic Studies Department
18 tenure-related faculty members
Humboldt State University
Department of Ethnic Studies
3 tenure-related faculty members
Minnesota State University-Mankato
Department of Ethnic Studies
6 tenure-related faculty members
Oregon State University
Department of Ethnic Studies
6 tenure-related faculty members
San Diego State University
Department of Chicana & Chicano Studies
10 tenure-related faculty members
San Francisco State University
College of Ethnic Studies
Asian American Studies Department
15 tenure-related faculty members
Department of Black Studies
13 tenure-related faculty members
Raza Studies Department
17 tenure-related faculty members
American Indian Studies Department
4 tenure-related faculty members
Temple University
Department of African American Studies
6 tenure-related faculty members
University of California, Riverside
Department of Ethnic Studies
13 tenure-related faculty members
University of Hawaii
Department of Ethnic Studies
10 tenure-related faculty members
Washington State University
Department of Comparative Ethnic Studies
8 tenure-track faculty members
Appendix III: AAU ES-Related Departments:
Type, Faculty Size, & Graduate Degrees
Ethnic Studies
University of California, Berkeley
Department of Ethnic Studies (Ph.D.)
16 tenure-related faculty members
University of California, San Diego
Department of Ethnic Studies (Ph.D.)
13 tenure-related faculty members
University of Washington
Department of American Ethnic Studies
12 tenure-related faculty members
University of Colorado at Boulder
Department of Ethnic Studies
10 tenure-related faculty members
African Diaspora Only
Harvard University
Dept. of African & Af. Amer. St (Ph.D.)
20 tenure-related faculty members
Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Dept. of African & Afro-American Studies
16 tenure-related faculty members
Brown University
Africana Studies Department
11 tenure-related faculty members
Indiana University
Dept. of Af. Am. & Af. Diaspora St (MA)
11 tenure-related faculty members
University of Kansas
Dept. of African & Af-American St (MA)
10 tenure-related faculty members
Rutgers, State University of New Jersey
Department of Africana Studies
9 tenure-related faculty members
University of Pittsburgh
Department of Africana Studies
7 tenure-related faculty members
Brandeis University
Dept. of African and Afro-American St
3 tenure-related faculty members
Joint American and Ethnic Studies
University of Southern California
Dept. of American St. & Ethnicity (Ph.D.)
23 tenure-related faculty members
Separate Ethnicity Studies
University of California, Los Angeles
Department of Chicana & Chicano Studies
Asian American Studies Dept. (M.A.)
35 tenure-related faculty members
Stony Brook University, SUNY
Africana Studies Department
Dept. of Asian and Asian American St
33 tenure-related faculty members
University of California, Santa Barbara
Department of Asian American Studies
Department of Black Studies
Dept. of Chicana & Chicano St (Ph.D.)
31 tenure-related faculty members
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Dept. of African American & African St
Department of American Indian Studies
Department of Chicano Studies
24 tenure-related faculty members
Ohio State University
Department of African American Studies
21 tenure-related faculty members
Northwestern University
Dept. of African American Studies (Ph.D.)
15 tenure-related faculty members
University of California, Irvine
Department of Asian American Studies
Department of Chicano/Latino Studies
15 tenure-related faculty members
Syracuse University
Dept. of African American Studies (M.A.)
10 tenure-related faculty members
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dept. of Afro-American Studies (M.A.)
9 tenure-related faculty members
University of California, Davis
Dept. of Native American Studies (Ph.D.)
8 tenure-related faculty members
Emory University
Department of African American Studies
7 tenure-related faculty members
University at Buffalo, SUNY
Department of African American Studies
7 tenure-related faculty members
University of Maryland, College Park
African American Studies Department
7 tenure-related faculty members
Appendix IV: Small Departments in CAS
*Note:
Numbers do not necessarily account for vacant, but funded, faculty lines,
including those for which searches are currently underway. Because data are from departmental webpages,
they might not be current. Not
included here are the two CAS programs that tenure their own faculty:
Comparative Literature (one fully appointed associate professor, one jointly
appointed assistant professor, and one fully appointed assistant professor
arriving in fall 2008) and Creative Writing (two full professors, two associate
professors, and one assistant professor).
Once
it fills its vacant line, the Ethnic Studies Program (Social Sciences) will
have 6 regular faculty members (4-5 asst, 1-2 assoc, 0 full). In addition, the program will have 4
zero FTE, core faculty members. ES
has 29 affiliated faculty members.
Were it to departmentalize and fill its vacant line, its core faculty
would be the seventh smallest among CAS departments (on par with Philosophy and
just smaller than East Asian Languages and Literatures and Geography), with 10
members (4-5 asst, 3-4 assoc, 2 full).
Its number of full-time, tenure-track faculty members involved in
departmental governance would be larger than that of Classics, Theatre Arts,
Human Physiology, Religious Studies, Linguistics, or German and Scandinavian.
The
Department of Classics (Humanities) has 4 regular faculty members (3 asst, 2
assoc, 0 full). In addition, the
department has 3 core faculty members (all full) with tenure homes outside
Classics. The department also has
1 instructor, 2 participating faculty members, and no affiliated faculty. The department offers an MA.
The
Department of Theatre Arts (Humanities) has 5 regular faculty members (2 asst,
1 assoc, 2 full). In addition, the
department has 1 senior instructor and 1 instructor. The department does not have any affiliated or participating
faculty members. The department
offers an MA, an MFA, and a PhD.
The
Department of Human Physiology (Natural Sciences) has 6 regular faculty members
(1 asst, 4 assoc, 1 full). In
addition, there is 1 senior instructor, an Exercise Physiology Coordinator, and
a Program Director/Graduate Athletic Trainer. The department does have any affiliated or participating
faculty members. It offers both an
MS and a PhD.
The
Department of Religious Studies (Humanities) has 7 regular faculty members (3
asst, 3 assoc, 1 full). In
addition, it has 17 affiliated faculty members. The department does not offer a graduate degree.
The
Department of Linguistics (Humanities) has 8 regular faculty members (2 asst, 3
assoc, 3 full). In addition, it
has 14 Òdepartmental colleagues and associates,Ó and 9 affiliated faculty. The department offers both an MA and a
PhD.
The
Department of German and Scandinavian (Humanities) has 9 regular faculty
members (2 asst, 4 assoc, 3 full).
In addition, it has 4 adjunct instructors, and no participating or
affiliated faculty. The department
offers both an MA and a PhD.
The
Department of Philosophy (Humanities) has 10 regular faculty members (4 asst, 3
assoc, 3 full). In addition, it
has 4 adjunct assistant professors, and 2 affiliated faculty. The department offers both an MA and a
PhD.
The
Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures (Humanities) has 12 regular
faculty members (4 asst, 6 assoc, 2 full). The department has no affiliated or participating faculty
members. It offers both an MA and
a PhD.
The
Department of Geography (Social Sciences) has 12 regular faculty members (4
asst, 2 assoc, 6 full). In
addition, it has 7 Òspecial staff,Ó and no participating or affiliated
faculty. The department offers
both an MA and a PhD.