University of Wisconsin-Madison students began the discussion phase of addressing the university’s proposal to consolidate ethnic studies programs in a meeting Thursday.
Student Activity Center Governing Board Chair Tito Diaz and other students held the discussion to get student input about the plan and spread the word about possible changes.
UW-Madison proposed merging the Chican@ and Latin@ Studies, Asian American Studies and American Indian Studies programs with the African American Studies Department to become the Ethnic Studies Department, due to funding pressure to reduce the number of certificate programs on campus.
Diaz said he felt the need to expand discussion beyond Chican@ and Latin@ Studies students to make more students aware of the possible changes. He said the biggest concern he has heard at this point is a lack of knowledge.
“I feel like when people say ‘we want more information,’ that’s bad,” Diaz said. “We really don’t know too much about what is being promised. We don’t know if things will be taken away. We don’t know if things will be added. Obviously something needs to happen.”
Diaz said students would also like to know why these four ethnic studies groups are being targeted.
“I heard that this is going to happen to all L&S programs, but if it’s not, and it’s just happening to these four programs, I feel like that is really just a disgrace,” he said. “If it’s across the board, then that’s a little bit better.”
Diaz also said, as a student, he has known about this possibility for approximately a month.
“I think faculty and staff should be telling students, but they haven’t done that yet,” Diaz said. “Students are self-organizing to let the administration know this is not what we want.”
The university says this consolidation is prompted by a lack of funding, according to Niko Magallon, a UW-Madison alumni and former Associated Students of Madison Diversity Committee chair.
Magallon spoke about his interactions with outgoing UW-Madison Provost Paul DeLuca at a Board of Regents meeting concerning the merging.
“He basically said ‘this needs to happen, resources are tight,’ you know?” Magallon said. “It’s the financial justification that we get a lot.”
Magallon spoke about the UW System’s $6 million surplus last year and the ensuing tuition freeze for this biennium. He said he interpreted the possible consolidation cut as bracing for cuts in the next biennium.
Magallon also said when he added the “human element” to his discussion with DeLuca by asking what the consolidation could mean for students and how it could delegitimize their communities and histories, DeLuca said the East Asian program subsidiaries “are all the same.”
“He was, in his statement, homogenizing people’s cultures,” Magallon said. “When I hear that, and especially since he’s the top of the top at Bascom, it’s like, how is this not going to happen now?”
Magallon said the consolidation could be inevitable and was “very disappointing.”
“It’s not a matter if, it’s seemingly a matter of when,” he said. “I decided to … allow for this conversation to develop so when we do go to him, he’ll have a better understanding of just how wrong he is about everyone being pretty much the same.”
DeLuca was not available for comment at the time of publication.
“I’m excited for this to possibly be a new spark to help make it happen,” Magallon added. “Unfortunately, it had to come where the knife is at our throats, to propel us into action, but I’m glad that action is finally happening.”
Students said they were simultaneously frustrated and encouraged at the discussion, as they wanted to avoid moving backward and also get what they deserve. They proposed turning the tables and pushing for department input.
“We are not a footnote in history,” said one student in attendance.
Another student added, “Our voices are our biggest weapon.”
Amanda Villanueva, a UW-Madison junior studying anthropology and CLS, expressed concern about simply waiting for more information from the administration.
“We’re not even going to have a name anymore,” Villanueva said. “Everybody else [has] a department. Why can’t we have one?”
Marvin Gutierrez, a senior studying sociology, journalism and CLS, said he is glad students are organizing to speak up and saw the merger as problematic because “it is going to essentialize a lot of folks’ identity, as well as experiences historically.”
He also said the collaboration could be financially beneficial for smaller programs, but “most importantly, it’s about the student experience and student history.”
The discussion group plans to hold another meeting with all four program leaders in early April.
