We, the undersigned, publically express our support for the Department of Ethnic Studies at California State University, East Bay. We oppose any forced mergers, downsizing of academic offerings, loss of department status, or layoffs of faculty and/or administrative staff. We will not stand by silently if this vital department is asked to cede the sovereignty afforded by its status as a fully-fledged department--a victory won in 1984.
Cuts to Ethnic Studies represent an affront to the struggle and sacrifices of the students, community members, Civil Rights workers, intellectuals, and activists who have fought for a education reflective of and relevant to the cultures and histories of peoples of color. In the forty years since the founding of the first departments, Ethnic Studies has become a vibrant, legitimate, and respected interdisciplinary field of scholarship and teaching with its own PhD programs, journals, academic conferences, and publications. The field continues to expand in depth and scope, producing knowledge from the perspective of marginalized groups in the US, including African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos/as, and American Indians as well as producing a rigorous study of the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Ethnic Studies provides an academic home to all students who want to gain knowledge and understanding of the multiple oppressions that afflict US society and an appreciation for the rich cultural production--literature, art, film, and music--of marginalized groups. Ethnic Studies departments, such as the one at CSUEB, play a vital role in making the University relevant and accountable to the diverse communities it serves.
We demand that CSUEB live up to its stated mission to "provide an academically rich, multicultural learning experience" to all its students. We will not accept a rollback to a pre-civil rights university. We reject the idea that Ethnic Studies is expendable. We will not allow the current budget crisis to justify the elimination or reduction of this critical field.
