Point-Counterpoint: Should African-American studies be made a department?

Point: A Unique lens deserves more

Cindy Hong, Columnist

Princeton prides itself on the strict selection of disciplines. With the exception of the Wilson School, all degree-conferring departments cover distinct fields to give students "the depth that comes from rigorous disciplinary training," President Tilghman said in a statement in Sept. 2006. While the need for disciplinary training has been given as a reason to turn the African-American Studies (AAS) program into a Center for African-American Studies as opposed to a Department of African-American Studies, the academic integrity of AAS also calls for the elevation of the Center to a department in the near future.

Over the past two years, the AAS Center has successfully offered a wide range of cross-listed courses involving the English, religion and politics departments to name a few. Why does AAS need its own department if students can already take courses in the above disciplines? It's because while an individual AAS course gives a students a unique perspective on English, Religion or Politics, AAS courses taken as a whole teach students a unique way of thinking. My first AAS course in the politics department taught me how African-American politics is different from mainstream American politics. The subsequent six courses I took to fulfill my AAS certificate requirements have taught me a completely different way of thinking about the emergence of culture and identity. It's an approach that takes sociology, history, religion and politics into consideration.

With the Wilson School, Princeton has already created a model of faculty hiring for an interdisciplinary department. There, faculty are only appointed once they've been positioned in a home department. This situation, while unfortunate for WWS-based "lecturers," allows for a rigorous course catalog that provides an interdisciplinary approach to policy-oriented problems that students don't get in other departments. Faculty for a new AAS department could still maintain positions in their home disciplines.

The second concern is that disciplines should be long-lasting. While we should strive for longevity, we must also recognize that disciplines are created with time. The unique form of humanistic thought taught by the classics department, for instance, trumps its anachronistic subject matter. Fifty years ago, Princeton didn't have a computer science department, much less an operations research and financial engineering department. Technology is always changing, but 100 years from now, African-American Studies will still provide a unique lens for viewing the American experience.

Finally, an AAS department would promote diversity of thought. Right now, just as the economics department attracts majors who are strong believers in the free market, AAS certificate students tend to share some ideological perspectives as well. Economics, as a recognized department, however, also draws students with all perspectives to its introductory classes. As a department, African-American Studies would be able to reach out to a greater percentage of the student body than it already does. The exposure of students to different ideas is ultimately the goal of a liberal education, and only by making AAS a full department can we really achieve that goal.

Cindy Hong is a Wilson School major from Princeton, N.J. She can be reached at cindyh@princeton.edu.

Counterpoint: Don't mess with success

Maria Salciccioli '09, Guest Columnist

The African-American Studies classes offered at Princeton are some of the most fascinating, intellectually stimulating classes on this campus. Their interdisciplinary nature makes them a fantastic supplement to a liberal arts education, and the Center for African-American Studies attracts professors and lecturers of the best quality. Because of its fantastic success, I see no reason for Princeton to change AAS into a concentration.

Princeton prides itself on having a small but comprehensive set of undergraduate majors, and its exhaustive set of certificates supplements this core program of study. Due to this dynamic, elevating AAS to a concentration could stifle students' opportunities for a diverse course of study.

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My concern is that, if AAS becomes a major, the certificate program would likely disappear; very few academic majors also offer certificate programs. Many students who are currently receiving certificates in the program, especially African-Americans, might be afraid to major in the department because of a perceived stigma against the concentration in the job market. Even if the certificate weren't eliminated, AAS' highly celebrated professors and desirable seminars would be spread more thinly, negatively affecting those pursuing certificates. If the program expands, students may no longer have the opportunity to take seminars taught jointly by Cornel West GS '80 and Eddie Glaude GS '97, and if such a seminar continued to exist, I imagine that preferential enrollment would be given to those in the department.

In 2006, when a committee of professors and University administrators decided not to make African-American Studies a major, history professor Dan Rodgers said that the University's conception of a department, program or school did not fit AAS, explaining, "We didn't want to take one of the institutional organizations typically used. We wanted to do something nobody, no other university, had done." This spirit of leadership, this notion that Princeton designates majors based on Princeton's unique needs rather than on precedents set by other universities, strikes me as uniquely Princeton. And I wonder, with the creation of African-American Studies as a major, if we will be undermining, or, at least, calling into question our notion of what it means to be uniquely Princeton.

Princeton set out to establish itself as a leader among top universities with its grade-deflation policy; instead, no other university followed us. When Harvard abolished early decision, however, we were quick to follow in its stead. All of the other institutions in the Ivy League have established AAS as a major, but we shouldn't abandon what makes sense for our academic program because we cannot stand to be left behind our peer institutions. Instead, we should stick with the rationale and arguments that Rodgers put forth only two years ago.

I agree that Princeton needs to keep up with our changing world and America's national identity, but I think we need to do it in a way that makes sense for us. We have a wonderful Center for African-American Studies that offers a wealth of classes, and I think that its present iteration serves the undergraduate community in a phenomenal way.

Maria Salciccioli is a history major from Harper Woods, Mich. She can be reached at msalcicc@princeton.edu.