According to the Los Angeles Times, all 430,000 undergraduates attending California State Universities will be required to take an ethnic studies or social justice course, a curriculum change approved by CSU trustees today.
To quote latimes.com:
The board of trustees voted in favor of the requirement, which will take effect starting in 2023 in the nation’s largest four-year public university system. Five members voted against it, including State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and social justice activists Lateefah Simon and Hugo Morales. One trustee abstained.
Two questions dominated their debate: How should ethnic studies be defined? And who gets to decide: faculty, trustees or state lawmakers?
The new requirement, advanced by the office of the chancellor, creates a three-unit, lower-division course requirement in “ethnic studies and social justice.” The requirement could be met by a traditional ethnic studies course or by courses focused on social justice or social movements.
The measure was opposed by some faculty and students who argued it was too broad and developed without appropriate consultation with ethnic studies faculty.
They contended that adding the social justice option diluted the core mission of ethnic studies, which focuses on the history and experiences of four oppressed groups in the U.S.: African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos and indigenous people.
California Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), has drafted an alternative plan that is currently making its way to the governor’s office, which would more strictly define how the requirement could be fulfilled.