Proposal to change Afro-American Studies into department under review

A proposal to make the Interdepartmental Program in Afro-American Studies into its own department is in its final stages of review almost a year after the proposal was originally submitted.

Kyle McJunkin, director of curriculum, coordination and operations at UCLA, said if all goes smoothly, the African American Studies department could be established by summer or fall of this year.

The conversion of the interdepartmental program into a department was delayed because of a change in leadership and scheduling conflicts, said Robin Kelley, the acting chair of the Interdepartmental Program in Afro-American Studies.

Kelley said he thinks the program is being considered for review just now because Afro-American Studies doesn’t get as much attention as it should.

“There was never a reason why it shouldn’t be a department,” said Kamilah Moore, chairwoman of the Afrikan Student Union and a fourth-year political science student. “I think it’s important for people to realize the contribution that black students and black Americans have made to the nation.”

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and other administrators have voiced their support for the department proposal, according to a UCLA statement.

In 2009, an internal review headed by Brenda Stevenson, the former chair of the Interdepartmental Program in Afro-American Studies, concluded that the program needed to become a department to compete for on-campus resources on an equal footing, according to Kelley.

Kelley said the processwill allow the current interdepartmental program to receive a larger amount of funding and offer a wider variety of classes. In the past, the program has struggled to find funding.

Kelley said becoming a department would also give Afro-American Studies more recognition at UCLA and give students more opportunities to take classes on the subject.

“It will raise our profile in the broader Los Angeles, state and national communities, allowing us to have a greater impact on public issues,” Kelley said.

Interdepartmental programs are not able to have their own faculty appointments, Kelley said. The Afro-American Studies program has to have faculty members from other departments volunteer and come teach its classes, Kelley said.

“If we constantly borrow faculty or convince people who may have appointments elsewhere to teach our classes, we can never develop a curricula with the kind of coherence that reflects Afro-American Studies’ disciplinary imperative,” Kelley said.

Undergraduate Students Association Council Academic Affairs Commissioner Darren Ramalho said he worked with Moore to encourage faculty of the UCLA Academic Senate to vote for the proposal.

“It is a good step forward in promoting diversity within our curriculum at UCLA,” Ramalho said. “I feel like it will encourage cultural understanding and make people more aware about the importance of diversity.”

La Trina Reed, community service coordinator of the Afrikan Student Union, said she thinks an African American Studies department would improve the campus racial climate for students of color, specifically black students.

“Right now, the general consensus of black students is that we don’t have anywhere to go to feel included,” said Reed, a fourth-year Afro-American Studies student. “I feel that an African American Studies department can be a place for us to go to feel welcomed.”

The exact timeline for the departmentalization process is still unclear, said Jan Reiff, chair of the Academic Senate. As of now, there is no deadline for the final decision.