Graduate Changes

Ph.D. programs in feminist studies and LALS as well as a master’s program in theater arts have been approved at UCSC.

Admissions to the LALS doctorate program will begin in the 2013–14 academic year — entry into the feminist studies Ph.D. will begin in 2012–13. Classes will launch for LALS in fall 2014, and for feminist studies in fall 2013.

“Each of these programs reflects the excellence and distinctiveness of scholarship and creativity and activity at UC Santa Cruz,” vice provost for academic affairs Herbert Lee said in a formal announcement.

The announcement said the feminist studies Ph.D. would offer a unique interdisciplinary approach, while a transnational focus would be apparent in the LALS Ph.D.

Before the changes are implemented, faculty and the graduate division are collaborating to finalize admission planning.

“The curriculum is planned out as part of the program proposal, although exactly how it’s implemented requires additional planning,” Lee said. “If faculty can put together an intellectually coherent program where it fits within our resource envelope, then we try to do all of it that we can.”

Finally, a theater arts master’s program has been implemented, with classes beginning in fall 2012. Because the theater arts major will be a conversion from its current certificate program, admissions have already been in place. The theater arts masters program will take advantage of its departmental ties with Shakespeare Santa Cruz and other professional theaters in its year-long program.

Students who are interested in the new graduate programs should contact the associated departments directly.

Undergraduate Changes.

Admission to the American studies undergraduate major has been formally suspended for two years. Students in the major were notified of the proposed suspension in January 2011.

“Since the American studies major is in suspension, we are not accepting new students into the major — neither frosh nor current students,” said undergraduate American studies advisor Donna Davis in an email. “However, students who are already declared American studies majors will be able to finish their degrees.”

Additionally, the economics dual degree pathway program has been discontinued. The program enrolled students from other UC campuses, but according to Lee’s curriculum update announcement, it has not been used for many years.

Still, changes to UC Santa Cruz’s undergraduate curriculum have not been entirely attritional. Faculty and students have developed plans for new programs in critical race and ethnic studies, including a bachelor’s degree, a minor and a graduate minor — also called a “designated emphasis.”

“A pre-proposal for academic programs in critical race and ethnic studies is currently circulating for comments,” said dean of humanities William Ladusaw in an email. “It describes the curriculum needed and the proposed requirements for an undergraduate major and minor and a graduate minor.”

After comments and statements of support are received, the pre-proposal will be developed into a formal proposal for review and potential approval by the academic senate in the fall.

Students organized a meeting on Monday to get answers to their questions about the sudden announcement that the American studies major would be suspended. Approximately 30 to 40 students attended the town hall meeting, along with three of the five department faculty members. Students offered their suggestions on how to maintain the goals of the American studies department even after its suspension. Photo by Nick Paris.

After learning about their department’s suspension, American studies majors rallied together to organize a town hall meeting to express their confusion and anger.

Students affiliated with the major were notified this month that admission to the American studies major will be suspended July 1.

Fourth-year American studies major Shawn Freeman, who helped organize the informational meeting, said it was successful.

“This is exactly what I was expecting,” Freeman said. “Students had concerns and they expressed [them], considering the meeting went over an hour.”

Approximately 30 to 40 students squeezed into conference room 202 in Humanities 1 on Monday afternoon and voiced their opinions and questions.

Some missed class for this opportunity. Others weren’t even American studies majors.

American studies department chair and professor Eric Porter, who sent the e-mail notice of the suspension to majors and proposed majors, led the discussion. The vice provost and dean of undergraduate education Bill Ladusaw and two of the four other American studies faculty members were also present.

Fourth-year American studies major Elena Brown was pleased with the outcome of the conference.

“We didn’t want just dialogue from them,” she said. “We weren’t sure of what the format of the meeting would be.”

Fourth-year American studies major Perry Trucco thought the meeting was straightforward.

“[Porter] wanted to put into our heads there’s not much we can do,” he said. “The true issue isn’t in our hands. Everybody wanted to do something, but it’s not in our control at this point.”

Porter said it was the American studies faculty who voted within the department itself to suspend the major.

Unlike community studies, which was cut in spring 2009, American studies faces suspension rather than elimination. The decision to discontinue community studies was made primarily by one administrator. American studies, on the other hand, was suspended based on the recommendations of the department’s faculty.

“There have been too few resources for too long,” Porter said.

In addition to the budget cuts, faculty members have transferred out of the department or to other universities.

When students asked why the school added the new Jewish studies major, the American studies faculty said that the new major requires far fewer resources than American studies would need. Unlike American studies, which has its own professors dedicated to the major, Jewish studies relies on the faculty of other departments, such as history of consciousness, literature and music.

At a quarterly press conference Monday, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal said he is optimistic about the suspension. He hopes it will create new opportunities to develop programs like ethnic studies.

“The suspension, or the potential suspension of that major does give us an opportunity to rethink things from anew,” he said, “and we could very well end up in a better place than where we started.”

But students don’t want a new place to start.

Some were frustrated by the short notice and finality of the suspension.

“It’s a little too late,” Brown said. “[The faculty] already have their minds set. They could’ve opened dialogue a lot sooner. I’m a little skeptical … about their intentions, and maybe they’re just trying to save their own asses.”

Students want to save American studies any way that they can. Some suggested creating a new major with the combination of American studies and ethnic studies.

American studies professor Kimberly Lau said the faculty has already considered this option.

“We talked to everyone on campus about collaborating, but because of resource scarcity it’s difficult for them,” she said.

Another idea was to integrate the goals of American studies into the classes of other departments.

Trucco said the program helped him appreciate aspects of history he wouldn’t have learned in other classes.

“You can’t get that stuff from other majors,” he said. “It enlightened me more so than I anticipated.”

Lau said the suspension may even benefit American studies majors.

This spring is the last quarter Introduction to American Studies will be offered. Instead of teaching the introduction course, professors and teaching assistants will be able to teach more upper-division courses next year.

And because Introduction to American Studies is the only pre-requisite for declaring the major, proposed majors should not have a problem declaring this year.

In 2012–2013, the absence of the 100, 101 and 102 series will free up professors and TAs to teach other American studies electives.

As a result, class sizes will decrease and more courses will be offered for declared majors.

Any proposed majors can get into Introduction to American Studies next quarter and shouldn’t have trouble pursuing the major, the faculty said.

The suspension should not affect majors’ applications to graduate or law school, department chair Porter said.

Meeting organizer Freeman said the turnout was good considering the short notice. Messages announcing the town hall were sent en masse to students and alumni throughout the community.

Meeting organizers met on Saturday night and Monday morning to collaborate on a list of concerns.

Students wanted to know what eliminating the concentration actually means for the campus community, Freeman said.

Porter said many American studies lecturers and staff work in other departments as well.

Students said they are interested in planning another meeting, possibly with the Student Union Assembly.

Porter said no promises were made to lecturers and graduate students concerning jobs for the future or that American studies would be back in two years.

“Even if we hire another faculty member, that’s not the progress we want to make,” Porter said.

For the time being, the suspension stands, but Porter said he will do his best to maintain future communication with students.

“That’s all we can do,” he said. “There’s just a handful of us.”

The American studies major will be suspended in July this year. Students who have already proposed or declared the major will be able to complete their degree, but the major will be closed to new applicants. Photo by Sal Ingram.

The American studies faculty has voted to suspend admission to the American studies major as of July 1 this year.

Since the 1970s, the American studies major has given students an interdisciplinary and historical context in which to study the United States. It allows students to study the diversity within its political, social and cultural institutions. The department’s mission is to prepare students to think critically, be effective writers and responsible citizens.

The faculty voted to recommend to the academic senate that the program be suspended for one or two years. This is “not a cancellation” of the program, said vice provost and dean of undergraduate education Bill Ladusaw.

Declared and proposed American studies majors should not have any difficulty completing their degrees, said Eric Porter, professor and head of the department, in an e-mail to students affiliated with the department.

The academic senate committee on educational policy, which has authority over all undergraduate matters, will decide whether or not to cancel the program.

There are currently around 125 declared American studies majors. In the 2008–2009 academic year, 36 students graduated with degrees in American studies.

The feminist studies and linguistics departments, which are also in the humanities division, also granted around 30 to 60 degrees in the 2008–2009 school year. In the same academic year, psychology granted 422 degrees. The molecular engineering department granted three.

Currently the American studies department has only five faculty members. Literature, the largest department in humanities, currently has around 40 faculty members. The linguistics department and language studies program has around 11, philosophy has seven and feminist studies six.

The limited number of faculty members is the primary reason for suspending the program, Ladusaw said. But because other departments are already stretched thin, the American studies department cannot count on them to provide necessary professors to maintain the major.

Hiring new faculty is not an option, because the process is very slow, Ladusaw said.

“The wise thing to do is to take a time-out, [rather] than bring more students in than we can serve,” he said.

Porter, the head of the American studies department, assured students who received the e-mail that students currently declared or proposed in the major will be able to complete their major and obtain their degree in “a timely fashion.” He advised proposed American studies majors to take the courses required to declare their major by spring quarter. Courses such as Introduction to American Studies will be offered for the last time this spring.

Fourth-year American studies and psychology major Elena Brown said she is unhappy with the murky fate of the American studies department.

“It sucks, and I’m upset about it,” Brown said. “It’s really frustrating. They’ve already cut community studies. Humanities are just not important here, apparently — where you learn to think critically about big issues like multiculturalism and diversity.  American studies is the closest thing to ethnic studies, and now it’s being targeted.”

The decision to suspend the undergraduate major will affect graduate students as well.

For Adam Reed, second-year graduate student instructor and history of consciousness doctoral candidate, the dissolution of the American studies major means that finding work as a teaching assistant or graduate student instructor will be more difficult.

“American studies has been a place for history of consciousness [graduate] students to get TA-ships, and we’re getting incredibly fucked,” Reed said. “So American studies is gone, there are not going to be any other programs for students to TA.”

Reed’s graduate focus on race in the United States makes him the perfect candidate for a TA in American studies, but not for other departments. He said eliminating the American studies department would mean the loss of valuable academic research and resources.

“We’re pretty much closing down a whole important field of knowledge that students are really interested in and is really important,” Reed said. “And it’s just going to be gone.”

Magaly Monroy, fourth-year American studies major, said that the suspension sends a very discouraging message about what kinds of programs the university values.

“It makes me feel that the university is telling me that what I want to be learning is not as important as either math or science majors,” Monroy said.

Brown said one of the key ideas of public education is supposed to be that all students should be able to choose to study any discipline they are passionate about.

“That’s the beauty of going to public university — the diversity between disciplines and people — and it’s becoming less and less diverse,” Brown said. “It’s really frustrating, because I don’t think students care.”

An informational meeting will be held on Monday in Humanities 1, Room 202. American studies students will have the opportunity to discuss further plans for the major and will be given information about how to proceed.

Ladusaw said that the two main goals of his office are to serve the current students and to engage in active conversation on how to sustain the American studies program in the future.