Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

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Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

What Role Should the African Studies Program Play at Georgetown’

What Role Should the African Studies Program Play at Georgetown?

Expansion Needed

When black folks and white folks are in conflict, it’s not always about race.

The continuing struggle between a student movement to expand support of the African studies program and the School of Foreign Service administration is not a black and white issue. It is an education issue.

It seemed like it was a race issue according to outside viewers like the Chronicle of Higher Education, which described the program’s shortcomings and Georgetown’s lack of support in its May issue this year.

One would expect Georgetown to be a true place of higher education, where the studies of all lands, peoples and issues are furthered. But, according to the facts, that is not the case. Georgetown has not decided to fully support the African studies program for the past decade. In order to bring justice to our education, the program must be expanded through the methods recommended by students and the African studies department.

Although last year’s student protest about African studies at Georgetown was led by students of African decent, the issue concerns all students. Contrary to what many may believe, the overwhelming majority of students that have graduated with certificates in African studies are white. Therefore, this issue concerns all Georgetown students. Do we go to a school that dares to give itself the title of an “international relations” school without including an adequate program of African studies? Take a look at some of the facts:

Fact: The program lacks professors.

Currently, the program claims to have only one full-time professor, Professor Herbert Howe, a research professor with no tenure. The program borrows nine professors that belong to other departments in the university. It also has two visiting professors and one adjunct professor. Let’s face it, professors make subjects interesting to students. Students choose what courses to take based on the quality and quantity of professors. As a result, students are less inclined to enroll in the program as a result of the low number of professors. Last year, when SFS did not extend Professor Margaret Lee’s contract, students protested. (Lee is an expert in the political economies of Southern Africa). As a result, the university reinstated her contract. However, the reinstatement of Lee’s contract does not hide the fact that more professors and more growth for the department are needed.

Fact: The department lacks the appropriate funding and support from the SFS dean’s office.

The plethora of problems surrounding the department is centered on this key fact. The African studies program receives the smallest budget of any regional program with $139,000, an improvement from $75,000 last year.

Last spring SFS Dean Robert L. Gallucci claimed that the low funding and support from his office were due to the low enrollment of students in the program’s courses. Whatever means Gallucci used to survey the situation, he must have overlooked the strong student interest in the program that compelled over 1,300 students to sign a petition in support of the program’s growth. Gallucci recommended that by itself, the African studies program should solicit funds from sources in D.C., such as embassies. However, Gallucci once again overlooked the fact that the program lacks sufficient staff, like a grant writer, to help solicit funds. In truth, the dean’s office has not helped the program grow as it has done with other regional studies programs.

The African studies program has shown that it knows what to do with more funding. In the past year, it has gained more than $75,000 and hopes to increase course offerings, according to the department. Despite the effectiveness of the miniscule staff, the program needs to expand through more funding, more full-time African studies professors and more administrative staff in order to make it comparable to other regional programs at Georgetown.

The African studies program is also not comparable to programs at other institutions of higher learning. Recently, Dr. Jane Guyer, director of Northwestern’s program, intervened in Georgetown’s affairs to act as an independent consultant in order to assess the situation. Guyer said that the report is expected to be completed and submitted to Gallucci’s office this Wednesday. Hopefully, she will reach a similar conclusion to that of other outside sources, like the Chronicle of Higher Education.

As an intellectual studying at an “international school” like Georgetown, I want to have all the doors to learning fully open. However, the door is only slightly ajar when it comes to the African studies program. The future looks grim for the department when Dr. Gwendolyn Mikell is expected to leave on sabbatical next semester. She is the director of the program and the main source of the program’s growth during the past decade.

However, I believe that the continued protest by students of the travesty to our costly $32,000 education will prevail and garner enough support to implement the needed growth in the African studies program. Guyer has worked with the Ford Foundation, which has given money to Georgetown’s program. Guyer commented that “Georgetown must allow the program to grow according to its strengths as an institution.” So, if it’s a money issue, then Georgetown has enough money in its budget, like the expected $180 million raised in New York City this weekend as part of the Third Century Campaign, to help expand the African studies program.

Carrie Solages is a junior in the School of Foreign Service.

Previous Stories by Solages Race for Awareness (09/14/99) Preference Programs Promote Promise (11/20/98) D’Amato: Don’t Mess with Teachers (11/6/98) Foolin’ Around: An American Legacy (10/23/98) Can You Be My Leader? I Don’t Think So (10/9/98)

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