Minneapolis, MN – On Friday April 28, 150 protesters, including students, staff and faculty, gathered at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities McNamara Plaza to protest administration's proposed cuts to ethnic and gender studies.

The proposed cuts communicated by administration to faculty in the College of Liberal Arts included but weren’t limited to: 50% of American Indian Studies, 30% of Chicano and Latino Studies, 30% of Afro-American and African Studies, and 10% of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies.

Protesters first gathered at McNamara Plaza, the building that houses many administration offices, as well as the board of regents. There speakers stressed the importance of defending ethnic and gender studies, as well as seeing this crisis for what it is: a distribution crisis, not a budget crisis.

Jasper Nordin spoke for Students for a Democratic Society-Twin Cities, recounting, “Students fought hard to win [ethnic and gender studies programs], and we’re going to fight hard now to defend them from disgusting attacks like this!” Additional speakers included Jae Yates from the Twin Cities Coalition 4 Justice 4 Jamar, Cherrene Horazuk from AFSCME 3800, Eric Diagre from the American Association of University Professors, and Siobhan Moore from Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

After the first part of the program, protesters marched from McNamara Plaza to Johnston Hall, home of the College of Liberal Arts administration offices, chanting “Chop from the top!”

Upon arrival at Johnston Hall, speakers included Joleece Pecore and Taryn Long from the American Indian Student Cultural Center (AISCC), Fa’aumu Kaimana from SDS, and Ren Wischmann from SDS.

During their speech, Pecore and Long from the AISCC spoke to the lack of action on behalf of administration to heal relations with the indigenous peoples of Mni Sóta Maḳoce, and recounted the American Indian Studies faculty’s 14 demands in response to the TRUTH (Towards Recognition and University-Tribal Healing) project. These demands are recommendations for concrete, measurable actions that are to be made by the university. As Long stated, “words are not enough, we must ensure that our institution provides support, resources, and programs that increase access to all aspects of higher education for our American Indian Studies students, staff, faculty, and community members.”

Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities stands firmly in opposition to any proposed cuts to these vital programs. Through this protest it is also clear that other staff, faculty, and students demand that these programs remain prioritized.

The TRUTH project can be found at z.umn.edu/truth-project; The AIS department’s demands can be found at z.umn.edu/AISTRUTHdemands

#MinneapolisMN #EthnicStudies

San Francisco, CA – On Feb. 25 hundreds of students began rallying at San Francisco State University (SFSU) to defend the first and only College of Ethnic Studies (COES) in the U.S. Due to underfunding by politicians and administrators, ethnic studies is threatened with budget cuts that may close the college.

Under pressure, the University President Leslie Wong agreed to meet on Feb. 25 with SFSU students in an open forum to discuss the planned cuts. Originally the meeting was supposed to take place in a room inside the college, but due to student response, a bigger space was needed.

Hundreds of students marched from the College of Ethnic Studies towards the Seven Hills Conference Center, until they packed the building from inside to outside. Protesters met with President Wong, Provost Sue Rosser and some of the president’s cabinet with a list of ten demands to sustain and advance the College. The demands included a restoration of all pre-2007 funding, resources for faculty within the COES, a mandatory ethnic studies course for all SFSU students, and a performance review of Provost Rosser.

When the students finished the meeting on their terms, they marched out to the Malcolm X Plaza chanting, “Rise up my students! Rise up!” and “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! The budget cuts have got to go!”

Veteran activists of the 1968 Third World Student Strike that created COES gave speeches, as students representing the General Union of Palestinian Students, League of Filipino Students, Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlan (MEChA) and Student Kouncil of Intertribal Nations also participated.

The Third World Liberation Front led the 1968-69 strike, which was the longest campus strike in U.S. history. Not only did the student-led strike win the first and only College of Ethnic Studies in the U.S., it inspired the establishment of ethnic studies classes and programs at other universities throughout the country.

“The fight for Ethnic Studies is a continuation of San Francisco State’s revolutionary legacy from the Third World Liberation Front,” said Jordan Ilagan of the League of Filipino Students. “As students of SF State, it is our duty to fight for relevant, pro-people education. We should not end our actions after meeting with President Wong but continue to organize and mobilize.” Ilagen added, “We know very well that we cannot rely on the powers that be to genuinely uphold the interests of the students.”

A member of General Union of Palestinian Students said “We gave President Wong the deadline of answering our demands by the end of Black History month, Monday, Feb. 29, at 5:00 p.m. in which he responded with a letter that completely dismissed our demands. We also asked he email it to the entire student body, which he failed to do as well. He instead posted it on his website.”

President Wong’s letter stated that cuts will not occur to the College of Ethnic Studies, and promised to allot $200,000 more to the College, a temporary fix. Students mobilized on March 16 in the Quad near Malcolm X Plaza to call on the SFSU administration to once and for all agree to the demands of advancing Ethnic Studies.

The proposed cuts of 40% of the College of Ethnic Studies budget represent the systemic gutting of COES resources at SFSU over the last decade, and across campuses in the U.S. more broadly. Since the recession, ethnic studies on many campuses, such as San Jose University, are targeted for cuts.

Funding for public education is being cut and social services are increasingly privatized. On the other side, funding for wars and the militarization of police, as well as government subsidies for corporations are escalating.

Chrisley Carpio, speaking for Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) said, “Instead of cutting classes, especially ethnic studies courses, foreign languages, and humanities, and instead of hiking up tuition, university administrators should ‘Chop from the Top.’ We are part of a growing student movement that wants to end the lavish bonuses and record-high salaries. Instead of cutting public education and scholarships, SDS tells politicians to stop increasing funding to U.S. wars and border militarization. We want a democratic society that starts prioritizing social spending and education. SDS says fund education, not U.S. military occupations.”

In opposition to a Supreme Court case out of Texas attacking Affirmative Action, National SDS began organizing to defend affirmative action and calling for increased enrollment of African American students and faculty. With the Education for All Campaign, SDS won equal access to college for undocumented students in Florida who were being forced to pay out-of-state tuition rates.

SDS is continuing the Education for All Campaign again with new demands to stop education cutbacks, for free tuition, to cancel student debt, and to make education accessible for working-class and African American, Chicano, Puerto Rican and other oppressed peoples.

#SanFranciscoCA #PeoplesStruggles #Antiracism #EthnicStudies #EducationForAll

Los Angeles, CA – Over 100 students, community activists, faculty, staff and others jammed the Cal State University of Los Angeles (CSULA) faculty Academic Senate, Jan. 28, to demonstrate support for Ethnic Studies – Chicana/o Studies, Pan-African Studies and Asian American Studies – becoming part of the General Education program.

General Education (GE) courses contribute to a student’s bachelors graduation requirement. These courses are intended to introduce undergraduates to a broad knowledge base from a wide range of disciplines in the natural sciences, humanities and social sciences. General Education courses are important, for they help students develop basic problem-solving and critical thinking skills.

As it currently stands now at CSULA, Chicana/o Studies, Pan-African Studies and Asian American Studies are not fully supported within the GE course structure. They are primarily electives.

Dr. Melina Abdullah, professor and Chair of Pan-African Studies, proposed a remedy to the lack of institutional support of ‘Ethnic Studies’ by including language that essentially institutionalizes Chicana/o Studies, Pan-African Studies and Asian American Studies into the General Education structure. This means that all students planning to graduate from CSULA would have as part of their education an Ethnic Studies course requirement.

Dr. Abdullah's motion states: “At least one of the two diversity courses must be taken in one of the four Ethnic Studies/Area Studies Departments/Programs: Asian/Asian American Studies, Chicana/o Studies, Latin American Studies, or Pan African Studies.”

Yet, as the Academic Senate debated, it was evident that there was strong opposition among CSULA faculty to explicitly require Ethnic Studies be part of the new General Education structure for Fall 2016.

In a most undemocratic manner, it was also made clear to all of us in attendance, that this was not a public forum, and that it would be up to the Academic Senate to vote on whether to allow public comment or not.

To add insult to injury, for the first-time ever the Academic Senate voted with clickers, ensuring that there'd be no accountability or transparency on this matter.

When Dr. Abdullah continued to press for faculty accountability and transparency by calling for a roll call vote, the Academic Senate refused and voted it down with their clickers.

As of now, we do not know which professors voted for or against Dr. Abdullah's proposal. Chicano Studies professors remained silent during the debate. However, the final tally to include the language that would make Chicana/o Studies, Pan-African Studies and Asian American Studies part of the GE was voted down 29 to 20.

Ethnic Studies evolved out of the militancy and radicalism of the 1960s and 1970s and since then have been under assault by right-wing elements of this country. The fight for Ethic Studies is part of the struggle of Blacks and Chicanos for equality and self-determination. The oldest Chicana/o Studies Department was founded at Cal State University L.A. in 1968 as a result of the Chicano power movement.

In recent years, Chicana/o Studies has been banned, Chicana/o books censored and educators fired in the Tucson Unified School District in Arizona.

The opportunity to strengthen Ethnic Studies at CSULA by incorporating it into the General Education course structure was an opportunity lost. Yet, it is clear that the very presence of hundreds of students and community activists at the meeting demonstrated that this battle is just beginning and the community is once again ready to mobilize to stop the attacks against Chicana/o Studies, Pan-African Studies and Asian American Studies at CSULA. This event created a new spirit of unity and action among the students, faculty and community to continue to fight to expand Ethnic Studies.

On Jan. 30 scores of students marched to the office of CSULA president to demand that Ethnic Studies be included in the General Education requirements. This issue is receiving more support from students in other colleges.

“We have an opportunity to bridge divides and stand as a model if we move in the right direction. The Senate meets every Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in Golden Eagle Ballroom 3. There is always an opportunity to right the course,” stated Dr. Abdullah.

The students, faculty, staff and surrounding community of CSULA request your support to demand that CSULA require Ethnic Studies as part of the General Education (GE) course structure by calling or writing letters to the following offices:

CSULA Academic Senate Staff

Jean Lazo-Uy, Administrative Support Coordinator

5151 State University Dr.

Los Angeles, CA 90032

Office: Administration 317

Tel: (323) 343-3750

FAX: (323) 343-6495

Chicana/o Studies Department

C/O Dr. Bianca Guzman, Chair

5151 State University Dr.

Los Angeles, CA 90032email: chicanostudies.csula@gmail.com

Tel: (323) 343-2190

Department of Pan-African Studies

C/O Dr. Melina Abdullah, Chair

5151 State University Dr. Los Angeles

King Hall C3095

Phone (323) 343-2290

Fax (323) 343-5485

Asian and Asian American Studies Program

C/O Ping Yao, Program Director

5151 State University Dr.

Los Angeles, CA 90032

Email: pyao@calstatela.edu

Phone: (323) 343-5775

David Cid is a Los Angeles-based Chicano activist and educator. Cid is active in the anti-war and immigrant rights movements. He recently received his Masters in Chicano Studies at CSULA.

#LosAngelesCA #StudentMovement #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #Antiracism #EthnicStudies #CalStateUniversityOfLosAngeles #PanAfricanStudies #AsianAmericanStudies #ChicanoaStudies