As former Irish politician and poet William Butler Yeats once said, “education is not the fillingof a pail, but the lighting of a fire,” and as of late, my fire has been burning wild and true.
This past Tuesday, the Iowa Board of Regents, which oversees operations at all three major public universities in the state — the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University of Northern Iowa — agreed to forgo voting on the establishment of a new school at the UI dubbed the School of Social and Cultural Analysis, or SSCA.
The implementation of said school was proposed by the heads of several university departments in order to counter the extermination threats of specific programs like American studies, social justice, and gender, women, and sexuality studies.
A new school would have theoretically placed more emphasis on a consistent and well-organized curriculum all managed under a single roof. By merging multiple majors into one department, the new School of Social and Cultural Analysis would have also allowed for specific research opportunities and academic support to become available to students.
This would have given undergraduates the opportunity to take classes all over the spectrum of social and cultural studies. This, however, will not be considered at the upcoming meeting and will be postponed until further notice.
Regardless of one’s own political affiliation, the neglect to even hear testimony and vote on said proposal shows the abundant ignorance that plagues the board of regents and the fear mongering that has recently been taking place in the world of higher education to satisfy racist and homophobic lawmakers.
A push to reject the proposal to open a new school was pursued heavily by senator Lynn Evans and Rep. Taylor Collins, who, in a letter to the board of regents in early January, claimed the school would peddle “ideological agendas” instead of “providing for the workforce needs of the state.”
The dismissal of the proposal ultimately led to Iowa Senior Director of Administration Rebecca Tritten having to explain via email to the college of Liberal Arts and Sciences faculty that the board of regents would attempt to “explore other solutions that lead to greater efficiency and serve a large number of students” instead of green-lighting the new SCCA program.
On top of the denial to have a conversation about the implementation of the new school at Iowa, in an unprecedented swing, the board will now vote at their Feb. 27 meeting whether to completely terminate the American Studies and Social Justice departments at the UI.
For context, both departments would have been included under the umbrella of a new School of Social and Cultural Analysis but have now been put onto the chopping block for seemingly unrealistic political reasons.
Just a few of the courses offered within these majors are:
Not only would the elimination of these majors hurt the overall educational quality and diversity of the UI, but it also implies the recent idea to end the teaching of social justice within the context of American progressivism can infect even the highest of institutions in our state.
Anna Amin, a senior social justice major at the UI, believes this move is nothing short of an assassination of basic educational freedoms brought on by a conservative fear of modern academic tolerance.
Amin has even gone on record saying she believes, “it’s a direct attack on our programs and directly impacts a student’s ability to obtain the education they want to achieve. Iowa is one of the few universities in the country with an undergraduate degree in social justice. It’s something that is celebrated and that we should be proud of.”
Although current students taking classes in these subjects would be allowed to finish their respective degrees, it would stop future Hawkeyes as soon as next fall from taking courses in these fields. This would further restrict several academic freedoms many students hold so precious and dear.
The Cross-Cultural Student Coalition, an organization at the UI which aims to connect people from different personal and cultural backgrounds to enhance the voices and basic freedoms of students, have attempted to push back against the board of regents through several on-campus events. One of these happenings occurred last Friday in the form of a zine-making and emergency testimony writing session to support both the Social Justice and American Studies programs, as well as their faculties.
This effort is just one of many ways students of the UI are attempting to fight back against the consistent and arrogant academic oppression that has begun to spread to universities everywhere.
Regardless of if the cutting of Social Justice and American Studies doesn’t occur, the attempt to oppress specific information within Iowa’s curriculum and the lack of approval for a new university program showcases the consistent and oppressive nature of modern conservative ideas within our academic world. And we need to fight back before it’s too late.