UNDERGRADUATE, GRADUATE AND FACULTY COALITION FOR ETHNIC STUDIES | MICHIGAN IN COLOR
On Monday, April 11, more than
100 students and faculty members
gathered
in
the
Michigan
League for The Future of Ethnic
Studies,
a
teach-in
organized
by a broad coalition of graduate
and undergraduate students at
the University of Michigan. The
goals of the event were to develop
interest and investment in ethnic
studies across the University and
to build structures of collaboration
and coalition among graduate
students,
undergraduates
and
faculty of color. We organized this
event to encourage the growth
of ethnic studies programs and
demonstrate to the University
administration that there is a need
for these units to secure more
resources, especially in light of
the University President Mark
Schlissel’s diversity, equity and
inclusion initiatives.
Ethnic studies programs across
the country are experiencing a
moment of crisis and opportunity.
We see these crises manifesting
from
San
Francisco
State
University, where the first ethnic
studies programs were founded
and where the administration is
threatening devastating cuts to its
budget, to here at the University of
Michigan, where the slow attrition
of faculty of color and ethnic
studies faculty constitutes its own
crisis. At the same time, college
campuses in the past year, from
Yale to Mizzou, have mobilized
en masse to make their demands
for racial justice heard. As the
University designs its plan for
diversity, equity and inclusion, we
need to ensure that the histories,
cultures and communities that
make this campus diverse remain
a central feature of the curriculum.
The event on Monday was the
product of several years of faculty
and student activism. This vision
for this event is shaped by the
graduate students in the Asian/
Pacific Islander American Studies
Program in the department of
American Culture. In the past few
years, seven faculty members have
left the A/PIA Studies Program,
and only two faculty have been
hired by the department. There
has been one graduate course
offered in A/PIA studies since
2013, and no graduate instructor
positions for classes in A/PIA
studies. Undergraduate enrollment
in the program has also dropped
dramatically in the last five years.
However, these problems are not
unique to A/PIA Studies.
This university does not support
ethnic studies but asks for our units
to do the labor of educating a largely
white and affluent student body of
issues on race and ethnicity. The
lack of support for ethnic studies
is apparent both inside and outside
the classroom — faculty of color are
departing this institution in droves;
graduate students are continuously
invalidated by their departments
if their work addresses issues of
race, gender, sexuality and ability;
and undergraduates are left to deal
with a campus climate that allows
for racist parties to be thrown by
fraternities and for public spaces to
be chalked with messages of hate.
The macro and the micro cannot be
separated. The lack of institutional
support for classes that address
issues of difference and identity
is reflected in the interactions
between students and faculty that
leave people of color fearful and
tired of every-day acts of racism.
This is not the first time students
have gathered out of concern for
ethnic studies. In 2008, graduate
and
undergraduate
students
organized the Campus Lockdown
teach-in,
an
event
protesting
the lack of institutional support
for recruiting and retaining a
critical number of faculty in
ethnic studies, women’s studies
and other departments. The 400
attendees of the event brought to
the University’s attention that only
three percent of faculty are women
of color, and many of these few
faculty were forced to continue
teaching
at
other
institutions
because they were not supported
by the University. The organizers
of The Future of Ethnic Studies
teach-in follow the footsteps of
the 2008 coalition in our push for
more resources to support faculty
and students of color at this
institution.
Our framing around the future of
ethnic studies is intentional. While
ethnic studies programs around
the country are being cut and
reorganized, our goals are not just
to defend ethnic studies programs
from institutional attack, but also
to push ethnic studies beyond its
current boundaries to transform
and grow. Rather than simply
respond to crises in the University
by advocating for a return to what
once was, we can put forward our
own visions of what ethnic studies
could be. What would ethnic
studies look like if we imagined
different forms of relation beyond
the “food group” model that keeps
African
American,
Arab
and
Muslim American, Asian/Pacific
Islander American, Latino/a and
Native American studies in our
own departments and programs?
How
might
ethnic
studies
challenge divisions between the
classroom and the community
to cultivate ethical practices of
community engagement? Or help
us develop the tools to fight for
racial, gender and economic justice
in and beyond the University?
The
University’s
plan
for
diversity, equity and inclusion
is a moment of opportunity.
However, we can’t let the terms
of this conversation be confined
and defined by the administration
as
a
push
for
multicultural
inclusion
rather
than
racial
justice. The current framing of the
conversation on diversity, equity
and inclusion is to include more
people of color without radically
transforming
the
exclusionary
ways in which this institution is
already run. As Barbara Ransby
reminded us during the Speak
Out for Racial Justice in 2014,
“If we’re going to embrace the
notion of diversity, it has to be one
that is contextualized and that is
unapologetically political. We can
have a Baskin-Robbins, pick your
favorite flavor of diversity, which is
cosmetic and decorative, or we can
have a version of diversity that says
inclusion is based on the history of
exclusion and oppression.”
What would it mean for us in
ethnic studies to reframe the
conversation on diversity, equity
and inclusion to be a conversation
about racial justice? In other
words, how can we call into
being a university that challenges
injustice in its own structure and
in its surrounding communities?
A university that is responsible to
Aura Rosser, who was murdered by
the Ann Arbor Police Department,
a university that is responsible to
the residents of Flint, who have
been abandoned by the state, a
university that is responsible to
the surveilled communities in
Dearborn, a university that is
responsible to the communities
whose land this institution is
built on and a university that
is responsible to the students,
faculty, staff and workers upon
whose
labor
this
institution
thrives?
5
OPINION
Thursday, May 12, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
The future of ethnic studies
O
ne of my best friends
on
campus
is
from
Pennsylvania, and every
once in a while
we
get
into
a
repetitive
debate
over
the
relative
importance of the states. In my
view as a lifelong Michigander,
the natural beauty and industrial
prowess of Michigan puts it pretty
high on my list of notable states.
However, for my out-of-state
friend, it usually falls somewhere
in the bottom half of the states,
usually
somewhere
between
Delaware and Wisconsin. Even
though this debate has been
raging for the entire year, we
still have our own perceptions
about the state in which we both
currently go to school.
The problem with this isn’t that
my friend and I disagree over the
ranking of the states. The problem
comes from our knowledge of
Michigan. I have spent 19 years
on this peninsula, and have been
everywhere from the streets and
skyscrapers of Detroit to the
mighty Mackinac Bridge that
crosses into the Upper Peninsula.
On the other hand, many non-
Michigan natives drop out of
the sky at Detroit Metropolitan
Airport, shoot straight across
Wayne and Washtenaw Counties
on I-94, and never — save for an
occasional trip to the Ypsilanti
Meijer — leave the city of Ann
Arbor.
This is a huge problem, as
it perpetuates many negative
narratives about Michigan among
our student body. I’ve heard
students at the University of
Michigan criticize every part of
this state. Be it false statements
about violence in Detroit or cruel
jokes about the water crisis in
Flint, everything seems to be
on the table for criticism from
students, many of whom have no
experience outside of Ann Arbor.
Our university, the University
of
Michigan,
doesn’t
simply
bear the name of this great state
for
merchandising
purposes.
This great academic institution
was built on the backs of many
Michiganders spanning all the
way back to 1817. The tax dollars
of Michigan residents fund the
University and have done so for
almost two centuries. While some
may argue that the existence of
high out-of-state tuition rates
justify
any
misunderstanding
of the University that may exist,
I hope that any student at this
school can understand exactly
what Michigan means. It’s not
just saying “Go Blue” and hailing
to the victors, but also knowing
“Michigan, My Michigan” and
seeking a pleasant peninsula by
looking about us.
I hope that students at this
fine educational institution can
get the chance and opportunity
to learn more about the state
of Michigan in a positive way.
Whether it’s biking through the
streets of Detroit, camping on
the beaches of Lake Michigan or
even taking a horseback tour of
Mackinac Island, summer brings
a lot of chances for students to get
out of Ann Arbor and into the rest
of Michigan.
There is a notion that two
drastically different versions of
Michigan currently exist. The
Michigan I know and love is a
great state, a state that built the
nation and a state that provides
for this University. In order for
us to reconcile my Michigan
with the notion of a rusted-out
wasteland, commonly held by
inexperienced Michiganders, we
must experience the greatness of
this state.
So the next time I hear
someone talking about the Upper
Peninsula or Detroit in a bad way,
I’ll challenge them to experience
Michigan like a true Michigander,
not just a flyby student.
—Kevin Sweitzer can be
reached at ksweitz@umich.edu.
Say nice things about
Michigan
KEVIN
SWEITZER
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