Growth seen in Latino/a, Asian American studies

By Susan Wittstock

A course titled "Introduction to Latino/a Studies" is introducing not just students enrolled in the class, but all of Ohio State, to a new field of study here.

The course, taught for the first time this year, is only one outcome of several recent steps taken by the Division of Comparative Studies, in partnership with other departments, to develop a more diverse curriculum at the University.

The division would be the administrative home for a Latino/a studies minor currently proposed by a Latino/a studies coordinating committee. If approved, the minor could be instituted as early as next fall, three years after the creation of a minor in Asian American studies.

The division is also preparing an academic enrichment proposal for the creation of a program in comparative ethnic studies, including an interdisciplinary undergraduate major. The major would enable students to combine courses in such areas as Latino/a, Asian American, Native American, Jewish, African American and African studies.

The Asian American Studies minor was established in the fall of 1997 and offers courses on subjects such as the literature, sociology, psychology and history of Asian Americans.

This fall, an Asian American Studies Committee was formed to help administer and promote the program. The committee has several goals, said Judy Wu, assistant professor of history and a member of the committee. "We want to strengthen the undergraduate minor, and are working with faculty to develop more courses," she said.

Another goal is to develop a graduate concentration. "The field has really been exploding in the last three years or so. There have been a number of positions advertised in Asian American studies recently," Wu said. "Programs started initially on the West Coast, but now the Midwest and the East Coast are catching up."

Wu, whose academic specialty is Asian American history, is currently the only instructor in the humanities at Ohio State whose research and teaching is focused on Asian Americans.

"We have a lot of faculty with an interest, but Asian American studies is not their primary area," Wu said. She is hopeful that an academic enrichment grant could provide the program with more faculty focused on the field.

The Latino/a studies program was given a boost this fall with the appointment of Ellen Gil-Gomez, senior lecturer in comparative studies. Gil-Gomez has been charged with developing courses and working to get them established in the course catalog. She has helped to write the division's proposal for a minor in Latino/a studies, which is being evaluated by the College of Humanities.

"I came here as a way to get this program going," she said. "I think the situation is that there have been numerous attempts to start a program, but this is the most concrete move to get a curriculum in place," Gil-Gomez said.

Ignacio Corona, professor of Spanish and Portuguese, is chair of the Latino/a Studies Committee created in October to help develop the Latino/a studies program. The committee, which consists of 12 faculty, administrators, staff and students, has gotten off to a good start, Corona said. "I am very satisfied with what we've been able to accomplish in the last several months," he said.

Prior to this year, there were no courses or faculty for Latino studies, Gil-Gomez said, other than two history courses on the books which had never been taught. This quarter, Gil-Gomez is teaching an English course on U.S. Latino/a fiction and an undergraduate introductory course, and during spring quarter she will teach courses on Latina feminism and Chicano history (1900-present), one of the two history courses previously untaught.

She is developing several other courses, including an undergraduate writing course on Latino/a identity and a graduate-level introduction to the field. Corona has developed a survey course of Spanish-language Latino/a literature to be taught next year, and said the colleges of Education and Medicine and Public Health and the Department of Social Work all have Latino/a coursework in development.

Gil-Gomez is also working with Stephen Yao, assistant professor of English, to develop five sequential courses for the English department covering both Latino/a and Asian American literature.

Committee members from both Asian American and Latino/a studies have been in consultation with other universities, including Stanford University, the University of Michigan and Indiana University, to discuss how to develop and structure new programs. Asian American and Latino/a studies have a lot to gain by working together, Wu said.

"We're both dealing with immigrant populations and the process of identity. How do these two groups work into the American landscape? When people talk about race, they tend to think of black and white," Wu said. "We're facing similar intellectual issues and have the opportunity to develop a synergy between the two programs."

The intellectual questions raised by ethnic studies are the same kinds of questions being raised throughout academia, said Gil-Gomez. "So much of the University right now is looking at culture and identity and where it comes from -- be it family, community groups or religion. Ethnicity does fit into that," she said.

David Horn, interim chair of comparative studies, said his division is taking an active role to support both programs. "The division has an intellectual commitment to exploring identities in a variety of historical and cultural contexts," he said. "And it is an important part of our role within the University to enable research and teaching that reach across the boundaries of departments and colleges."

He cited the grassroots efforts behind each program, with some faculty and staff having worked for 20 years to bring about changes in the curriculum. "With a president and a provost who have expressed a commitment to increasing diversity at the University and to addressing diversity in the curriculum, it's an exciting moment for people who have been working a long time to make this happen."

Asian Americans and Latino/as are the two fastest-growing groups in the United States population, Gil-Gomez said, and universities need to be reflecting those changes. "As the demographics change, the general American student is not going to be able to get through life without encountering Latinos, so it would be good to understand something of what this group is and what their experiences are," she said.

Committee presents revised policy, new recommendations concerning alcohol use

For the past 18 months, Ohio State's alcohol policy committee has collected and reviewed existing alcohol policies, consolidated them into a single document and drafted recommendations for future policies, Ted Grace, director of health services for the Student Health Center, told the Board of Trustees Feb. 4.

Ohio State has never before adopted a single alcohol policy with regulations and procedures unique to the University, Grace said. The committee included 18 students, staff and faculty members from across campus.

The policy consists of a philosophical statement; regulations that are unique to Ohio State, such as campus alcohol guidelines, how to plan and advertise University events involving alcohol, and disciplinary actions for policy violations; Ohio laws dealing with underage drinking, false identification, open containers, transportation, disorderly conduct and alcohol sales -- written in a way that students can understand; and information on prevention and assistance.

"The committee didn't change any current campus policies. We just consolidated them into a single draft proposal," Grace said. "The new alcohol policy is easier to understand, more concise and tailored to the unique needs of Ohio State, and it's also consistent with the recently revised Code of Student Conduct."

Ohio State's guidelines define when and where alcohol can be served and sold on campus, and assign responsibility for monitoring use of alcohol at University events. The revised policy requires trustees' approval.

"The committee also has devised a list of recommendations that are separate from the proposed alcohol policy," Grace said.

The recommendations are:

• The University should not serve alcohol at student-focused events.

• Alcohol should be prohibited at undergraduate group events that are sponsored by student organizations.

• The renovated Ohio Stadium should remain alcohol-free.

• The University should encourage television networks to schedule football games as early in the day as possible.

• Package sales of alcohol and tobacco products should be prohibited in University-owned facilities.

• A designated portion of the proceeds from alcohol sales at campus activities should go toward supplementing alcohol prevention activities and alcohol-free social programming.

• The University should not adopt zero-tolerance alcohol policies.

• Parental notification should be used only in those situations in which it appears to be in the best interest of the student.

Grace said that these recommendations are new to the campus, and may require more widespread discussion. If so, he requested they be considered separately so as not to delay approval of the alcohol policy.

On-campus living yields higher retention rates

Students who live in residence halls have higher first- to second-year retention rates and graduation rates than students who live off campus, Steve Kremer, director of residence life, told trustees during their Feb. 4 board meeting.

"That difference can be quite dramatic, especially when looking at specific populations on campus," Kremer said. "Statistics from the 1997-98 academic year show that living in campus housing might be key to improving the graduation rates of African-American students at Ohio State. Of the 174 African-American freshmen from Franklin County enrolled at Ohio State, 90 lived in residence halls, and 85 percent of those students continued to their sophomore year. Only 53 percent of the students living off campus made it to their sophomore year."

Graduate students also benefit from on-campus housing. The University will undertake the first building program in over 30 years to meet graduate students' housing needs. A 500-unit graduate housing project on south campus is in the planning stages, Kremer said.