School neglects ethnic studies

By Mayka Mei

What a wonderful, contemporary university we attend. Prospective students are enticed by the inviting words: "If you have a major that you'd like to study and you don't see it on this list, you can create your own!" How can that statement be true when Santa Clara does not even have an ethnic studies major?

When I first found out that ethnic studies is not a major at Santa Clara, I was shocked. I thought it was protocol for any respectable college or university to have an ethnic studies major.

Then I learned that the Center for Multicultural Learning (CML) and International Studies (IS) offices are housed in a couple of trailers, dwarfed by the height of O'Connor next door. What a pathetic situation. A visit to the campus Web site lets you know that ethnic studies isn't even a department itself; it's a "program."

Santa Clara resides in the south end of the Bay Area, a region touted and celebrated for its diverse blend of ethnicities, races and cross-cultural opportunities. Residents of this city are supposed to be living in a hotbed of cultural diversity.

Meanwhile, Santa Clara remains out of touch when it comes to addressing the great cultural diversity that surrounds it. Our departments do not reflect the necessity for a global community.

Somewhere in the formation of the university core curriculum, someone felt that just one course in world cultures would be enough of an open window to give an undergraduate student global awareness.

We have a Globalization Institute into which a hefty sum of money is invested, but our campus' general focus and main receiver of funds is the business school.

Among other things, the Campaign for Santa Clara (which kicked off in October 2002) will get us a bigger, fancier library. Apparently, having an improved library is more pressing of an issue than giving the CML and IS offices actual, physical buildings. What happened to "If it ain't broke, don't fix it?"

Hanging from a wall in the northwest end of Benson is a tapestry reminding passers-by of the university's (or someone's) main goals: competence, conscience and compassion. Where does the university, as a whole, stand in regards to those aspirations?

We lack the most basic, crucial department for any school that dares to brag about its diversity and open mindedness.

We are not being fully conscientious, responsible citizens when we mix up priorities during these trying times, when everyone needs a heightened level of international understanding.

And finally, we are so lacking in compassion that we choose to suppress the advancement of ethnic issues by not making them recognized as fully worthy of learning.

Consider all that's going on around the world and in the news today. An actual ethnic studies department, an actual ethnic studies major and actual office buildings for the CML and IS are all long overdue, and there was no excuse for the delay in the first place.