UCA students and faculty members gathered in the Ronnie Williams Student Center Courtyard to sign a letter to UCA, protesting the removal of the African/African American Studies major during x-period Jan. 25.
The meeting was organized by UCA’s Student Government Association.
UCA student and SGA Executive President Mya Hall and College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics representative Annabelle Van Asche were stationed outside the student center at a table with two laptops, allowing students to review the letter and sign their names.
The protest follows after Tom Williams, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and Patricia Poulter, provost and vice president of academic affairs announced the African/African American Studies major would be removed because it is no longer viable.
It has been deemed unviable because the program has not graduated enough students to meet the minimum threshold established by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education.
Students, alumni and faculty members were disappointed and outraged by the news of the University getting rid of the major. They felt as if removing the African/African American studies major goes against the goals in UCA’s Diversity Strategic plan.
UCA student Evan Gillard, said, “I, as a black student, feel it is very hypocritical of UCA’s president and all of its faculty members to have a National Day of Racial Healing only to then turn around and try and get rid of their African American study classes. It’s inconsistent.”
The letter written by members of the History Department, Diversity Committee and Advisory Board for the African/African American Studies Program has the signatures of over 70 professors and administrators, urging UCA to re-invest in African/African American Studies and keep the major.
Another petition, started by UCA Young Democrats, is available online to sign via Change.org that has over 1,000 signatures and a host of people voicing their concerns about the future of African American studies.
“Keep the major. We’re the only university that offers this as a major in the state of Arkansas, just keeping it as a minor is not going to do the same thing,” UCA student Adrianna Kimble-Ray, said.
UCA is the only university that offers African/African American Studies as a stand-alone major in the state of Arkansas and has been the only university for 13 years.
The Arkansas Department of Higher Education has since granted UCA a 2-year extension to re-invest in the program and meet the numbers needed for it to remain a major.
Students, faculty and alumni still gathered to raise awareness and collect signatures.
“We’re still out here because the university still does not pour in the necessary support and resources for this program to grow. So, we get zero dollars on the budget line items. We only have two faculty members in our program. And so, we’re basically out here fighting for more support so we can build back up our program,” Hall said.
