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Past, present, and would-be future students of History and Development of Racism (HDR) held a rally Friday in response to the course's cancellation by the University. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., rally-goers spoke from a loudspeaker in the Quad and had passing students sign a petition to bring back HDR.
Organizers of the rally said it was a "small part" of the effort they were taking to get the administration to reconsider its stand regarding the course's cancellation. In addition to the petition, signed by 1,000-plus students that they plan to submit to Donald Hafner, vice provost for undergraduate academic affairs, students have written letters and e-mails to the administration in support of the class.
Though protesters have directed their focus at the cancellation of HDR as taught by Paul Marcus, the current instructor, Hafner insists that the class ultimately isn't going anywhere. "The characterization common among the e-mails I have exchanged with students is that perhaps there is a misunderstanding that the class is never going to be offered again," he said. "I am absolutely interested in a course on these important topics, and hopefully one that will touch more than just 30 lives a semester."
But students who showed up in the Quad were clear in their support of HDR as it stands in its current form. "There are already other courses offered now on this topic," said Dianna Martinho, one of the protest organizers and A&S '09. "This class needs no revision - it won't be the same. Right now it's a journey unlike any other, and revising it could make it just a class, not an experience."
Hafner said in a previous interview with The Heights that the course in its new form would be taught by a regular faculty member in the African and African diaspora studies (AADS) department. It would reflect the latest thinking and scholarship on what he acknowledged were very important issues. "It is not an abandonment," he said.
Students directed a significant part of their focus on Marcus himself as an instructor, who has taught the course for five semesters after co-teaching it without pay for 24 semesters. In addition to teaching HDR at BC, Marcus is also the executive director of Community Change, Inc., an organization that holds workshops and seminars to encourage the breakdown of racism in society. HDR's former instructor, Horace Seldon, founded Community Change in 1968. "Marcus' job is antiracism work," Martinho said. "It negates the fact that he has no advanced degree."
For Keerror Colquitt, A&S '10, Marcus' outside profession seemed only fitting for him to teach a class like HDR. "We are always told to bring what you do outside of academics into the classroom," she said.
The course has been cross-listed between several departments, including philosophy and AADS (previously black studies), and also fulfilled the cultural diversity core. A new revised course would be listed within the AADS department. "The fact that it counts toward cultural diversity opens it up to more students who study in other departments normally," Colquitt said.
Going forward, Hafner said he is open to having student conversations about more programs in line with the spirit of HDR to reach more students in the study of topics of racism and power. "This is an especially important time in our history on this campus and as a nation to be talking about these important issues," he said.
But for now, Colquitt and other students are focused on the fate of HDR. "We are reclaiming our right as students to question what the University thinks is in our 'best interest,'" she said.
Protesters point not only to the high demand among students for the class, but to the significance of Marcus' being a white male. "The administration doesn't understand the importance of having a white male teach the class," said Tristiana Jackson-Hinton, A&S '10.
"White students having a white male professor is powerful, and for people of color to have a white male stand in front of them is powerful and important," Martinho said. "You start thinking, if this is how he sees things, then maybe it's how I should too."
Ines Maturana Sendoya, director of the Office of AHANA Student Programming, agreed about the value of having a white male instructor for this topic. "It's important to have the perspective of a white person talking about the impact of racism in his life," she said. "He represents a role model for white students to see someone who is dedicated to these issues, and it's also important for students of color to see a white ally who understands racism and is working to dismantle it."
Sendoya said she supports HDR for the impact she has seen it have on students. "They tell me it is very powerful and transformational," she said. "I hope that either this class or one very similar gets reinstated."
Micah Conkling, A&S '10, said that the study of racism is an obligation that all races share equally. "That you can wholesale state that people of color have more ownership over racism is exactly what this class addresses," he said. "It expands the discussion to understand we all have a stake in this. Restricting the class will restrict the discourse to how these issues have been discussed in the past."
Ricardo Salinas, vice president of the AHANA Leadership Council (ALC) and CSOM '09, said that the class' popularity is something the school should encourage. "It's a class where students are eager to be transformed," he said. "Students are asking to be challenged, and that should be promoted."
Hafner said he has not had any official discussions with faculty yet about their response to the cancellation, but reiterated that the University and the AADS department remain committed to thorough discourse on these topics.
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