[Formal title: Proposal for Racism, Colonialism, Antiracism, and Decolonization Course]
Passed: May 18, 2021
Posted: April 30, 2021
Sponsors:
Christine Bacareza Balance
Brooke Duffy
Kurt Jordan
Jane Juffer
Joanie Mackowski (S)
Jolene Rickard (S)
Noliwe Rooks
Vilma Santiago-Irizarry (S)
Olufemi Taiwo
Michael Tomlin (S)
Background:
The Resolution
Whereas President Pollack charged the Faculty Senate to develop plans for an educational requirement for students in her July 2020 letter [https://statements.cornell.edu/2020/20200716-additional-actions.cfm] to the Cornell community;
Whereas Africana Studies; American Studies; American Indian and Indigenous Studies; Asian American Studies; Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and Latinx Studies are the units that can best create and deliver the content of such a requirement;
Be it resolved that the Faculty Senate supports the recommendations for a student requirement that are made in this proposal.
Vote Results:
Yes = 61, No = 36, Abstain = 9, DNV = 20
As a longtime faculty member affiliated with Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and a former director, I endorse and support this proposal because it offers a reasonable and reasoned timeline for rolling out a required course for students. I hope that the resolution will be taken seriously by the faculty senate, and also by those who will be charged for implementing any student requirement. The most important part of the proposal is the specification of the resources needed to roll out a requirement in an ethical way. Rather than outsource the work of teaching about racism and inequality to visiting faculty or graduate student instructors, it is important to invite faculty who are tenured or tenure-track to develop and teach this curriculum.
-Durba Ghosh, professor of history