Students, professors push for addition of U.S. minority education requirement

By Vivienne Henning

The Committee on Race and Ethnicity (CORE) met with the Educational Policy committee of the Academic Senate on Monday to discuss how a U.S. minority education requirement would be integrated into students’ curriculums.JT

Staff and student representatives from campus minority organizations also joined CORE to push for the proposal to incorporate a U.S. minority education requirement.

“We want to make sure everyone has a curriculum that is very spread out,” said Jonathan Inda, professor and chair of Latina/Latino Studies.JT “The nature of general education is a mechanism to train students not to focus narrowly on a specific major. To think broadly and engage in life.”

Ronald Bailey, professor in African American Studies,JT said including minority education requirements in the general education curriculum encourages students to look at the way diversity has influenced Western culture.

“We have to teach the courses and make the messy connections of diversity involved in Western culture and civilization,” Bailey said. “Not just focusing on race and exclusion. Look at how rich in terrains these ethnic groups are.”

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Speakers emphasized that they should properly develop these courses, put them into practice, and meet again to discuss and review them.

“We want these courses to be engaging, exciting, provocative, and well-advertised,” Bailey said. “It will have a positive impact.”

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