EDITORS' CORNER
Key Takeaways
- Professors in the African American Studies Department at Syracuse University are questioning the low enrollment numbers that led to the program being put on hold, with only 12 undergraduate majors and 14 graduate students.
- The faculty attributes the program's struggles to a lack of support from the university and claims that academic advisors are discouraging students from enrolling in African American Studies classes.
- Other programs across various fields, including STEM and identity-focused studies, are also under review.
OPINION
Professors in the African American Studies Department at Syracuse University are once again questioning why their low-enrollment program is on the chopping block.
For months now the program has wondered why its poorly attended classes and few majors have caused it to come under scrutiny by the university.
Last December, faculty suggested the private New York university was perhaps not providing the resources it demanded because of Donald Trump and Project 2025.
As of March 2024, there were just 12 undergrad majors, eight minors, and 14 graduate students in the program, according to a university spokesperson. In 2020, the program had demanded 12 new part-time instructors along with three teaching assistants.
Now faculty have a new boogeyman to blame – academic advisors, who they allege are telling students not to take classes in the program. The university “paused” admissions to this program and 19 others last month, as reported by the campus newspaper.
“In a Tuesday campus-wide email, SU Provost and Vice Chancellor Lois Agnew said the changes are part of an effort to ensure SU’s academic portfolio remains vibrant, relevant and sustainable,” The Daily Orange reported. “She added that each of the paused programs had low enrollment numbers.
A doctoral candidate alleges advisors are discouraging students from taking African American Studies classes. “I was outright discouraged from taking any electives in the AAS department. My advisor straight up said it to me, like they didn’t try to sanitize it or anything. They straight up said to me, ‘Why are you taking courses in that department?’” Terese Joseph said.
Professor Herbert Ruffin said the opposition is due to people not liking DEI. “(AAS) is the first interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary department on this campus,” Ruffin said at a recent meeting. “It’s the first place to actually practice so-called diversity, inclusion, equity, and there’s a lot of people who basically don’t like that.”
A Pan African Studies student said the program is needed for black activism and “resistance.”
“This department was built off of resistance and the overall theme of African American studies, and Africanism is resistance in showing up in these spaces and saying ‘This is our space,’” Darla Hobbs said.
While some of the other programs put on pause are identity-focused, such as “Middle Eastern Studies” and “Latino-Latin American Studies,” not all are. Undergraduate degrees in chemistry, statistics, and fine arts are also facing scrutiny.
Other universities are reviewing their offerings, either because of new state laws or because of financial pressures due to the political landscape and declining enrollment.
A good business or nonprofit would regularly review its programming to see what is worth the cost and what might need to be cut. While it may be difficult for some faculty members to see their own department face the chopping block that does not mean there is anything nefarious in what the school is doing.
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