UC Berkeley Will Require a Course on Ethnic Studies

After nearly a year of controversy, the UC Berkeley faculty decided on Tuesday that all undergraduates should take a course in ethnic studies so that the curriculum reflects the racially diverse student body and promotes tolerance.

The so-called “American cultures” requirement can be fulfilled by new classes that will deal with a wide spectrum of ethnic groups. Last year, the faculty was stalemated over a proposal that would have included study of only blacks, Latinos, Asians and American Indians. A compromise plan approved Tuesday adds the study of Americans with European roots.

The vote by the Academic Senate was 227 to 194, showing that there was considerable opposition to even the compromise for political and practical reasons.

Lawrence Levine, a history professor on the faculty committee that produced the compromise, said he was delighted by the approval. “It is both substantively and symbolically a very important thing,” he said Tuesday. “It tells students we care about this area very much and it will influence higher education across the country.”

Question Raised

Some professors questioned whether there is enough racial hostility on campus to merit such a requirement and whether any course can promote understanding. Others argued that such required courses will be attended reluctantly and difficult to schedule.

Political science professor William Muir estimated that 6,000 students a year will have to take one of the new courses on a campus already considered overcrowded. “Where will we educate these students? In whose rooms will they be taught?” Muir asked.

The courses are supposed to consider at least three of the five groups, without stressing one over the others. According to the faculty committee report, the classes should answer such questions as: “How have our constituent groups shaped American literature, music, language, folklore and art? How have power relations between groups been manifested in such matters as racism, economics, politics, environmental design, religion, education, law, business and the arts in the United States?”

The requirement will be phased in over three years, starting with lower-division students in fall, 1991. When fully implemented, about 35 different courses are expected to satisfy the requirement in many departments.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Ira Michael Heyman strongly supported the American cultures idea in its current and earlier versions. Last week, in urging adoption by the Academic Senate, he said the proposal would “enhance our capacity to prepare a diverse student body for leadership positions in a state which will increasingly demand a diverse group of leaders.”

The issue of ethnic studies classes, highlighting the cultures and contributions of minorities, is being debated at many campuses across the country. For example, UC Irvine two weeks ago decided that its undergraduates should take one course in multicultural studies and another one in international affairs, and similar ideas are being discussed at several other UC campuses. A recent legislative review of higher education in California called on all campuses to require some ethnic studies.

Changes in the student body at UC Berkeley made the idea very compelling, its supporters say. About half of the undergraduates there are non-Anglo, compared to about a third in 1980. Minority students “are not taken account of adequately by the academic disciplines that take responsibility for the analysis and interpretation of American experience,” said the committee report issued last month.

However, when the original idea was raised at an Academic Senate meeting last May in Berkeley, the result was a shouting match, the likes of which several participants said they had not seen since the Vietnam War protest days. Critics said the original plan discriminated against minorities, such as Italians, Jews and Armenians, who were not among the specified four groups.

What followed was a convoluted route to compromise. Last May, the Academic Senate narrowly voted to send a mail ballot on the issue to all 1,500 faculty members. But Senate leaders later said such a ballot would violate bylaws. The issue was sent back to committee for another look and then back to the Senate on Tuesday.