The culture option proposal is a move in the right direction

For the past three years, the student-driven Asian American Curriculum Transformation Project (AACT) has been fighting for the incorporation of Asian American Studies into the curriculum at Tufts University. Currently, Tufts offers only three Asian American Studies courses, all of which are taught by part-time, non-tenure track faculty. Tufts has no tenured or tenure track Asian American Studies professors.

In the past, AACT has brought speakers such as Helen Zia and Ronald Takaki to campus. We have also been successful in securing a joint search between the English Department and the American Studies Program for an Asian American Literature professor. Unfortunately, however, the search committee did not find a suitable candidate, and no professor was hired for the proposed position. More recently, AACT has been actively working toward revising the inconsistencies regarding the exclusion of Asian American and Latino/a courses within the Culture Option Requirement.

We were pleased to learn that on January 23rd, the Arts and Sciences Curricula Committee drafted a Proposal that would change the Foreign Language Requirement and Culture Option of the Liberal Arts Foundation Requirements in two phases. The full proposal can be viewed online at ase.tufts.edu/faculty-meetings/as/1-28-04/main.htm. Phase I of the Culture Option Proposal is a temporary solution that recognizes and remedies the historical oversight of omitting Asian American and Latino/a courses from the Culture Option.

By rewording the current Culture Option in the Bulletin to include Asian American and Latino/a, parity would be achieved and would allow these areas of study to fulfill the Culture Option. Phase I of the proposal would last until the spring of 2006 and would apply to graduating classes through the spring of 2008. At this point, Phase II would be implemented. For us, the efforts of the Curricula Committee signal a move towards the recognition and inclusion of Asian American and Latino/a Studies in the Tufts Curriculum.

While we are pleased with Phase I of the proposal, Phase II presents new concerns for us. Although AACT has been working towards an improved Tufts curriculum, our efforts have thus far been hampered by the lack of a decision making process that is transparent to members of the student body. Phase II of the proposal will continue the work of addressing "the major issues concerning intellectual inadequacies of the Foundation Requirements." Phase II would establish an ad-hoc committee that would be responsible for creating new or revised requirements to replace the existing Foreign Language, Culture Option, and World Civilization components of the Foundation Requirements. If the proposal passes, Phase II should, from the outset, be transparent to the Tufts student body.

Students should have the opportunity to take part in the development and decision-making process of the revised requirement, in which students will have a vested interest. The faculty should incorporate students as members of the Committee or create an advisory panel consisting of students in Phase II of the aforementioned proposal, so that we can come to a lasting solution that will enhance the Tufts Community as a whole. In order to truly stimulate an intellectual atmosphere, it is necessary for students to be involved in the formulation and implementation of Phase II of this proposal. Efforts of student organizations invested in curriculum development at Tufts deserve recognition.

We hope that Phase II would continue to move in the direction of incorporating Asian American and Latino/a Studies courses as part of a greater movement to provide students with a more complete Tufts education. All members involved in the implementation of both Phases I and II of the Culture Option Proposal ought to re-examine the recommendation made by the 1998 Task Force on Race to create an American Race and Culture requirement. We hope the Committee would engage in discussions that will introduce a range of visions into the process and look forward to working with faculty on future endeavors towards curriculum development.

Thomas Chen is a senior majoring in American Studies.