Alongside dozens of supporters from the campus and the area’s Native American community, the American Indian Student Union called for the immediate reinstatement of two canceled Native American-focused courses at a meeting last night in Jimenez Hall.
The AISU will file a formal request to bring back the university’s only Native American-centric classes – Film Images of Native Americans and Survey of American Indian Cultures – to the American studies and anthropology departments, respectively, which oversee the courses. The group also decided to put more pressure on university officials by banding together with larger cultural organizations to stage a protest within the next two weeks.
“AISU needs to have the support of the bigger cultural groups on campus,” said Pride Alliance President Jenna Brager, who is also a former Diamondback editorial cartoonist. “There needs to be more visibility on campus and the university needs to know that they need to support Native American students and courses. We need to let them know that Native American courses are not a luxury. Take out a business course, seriously.”
The department of anthropology does plan to offer the film images course for the winter semester, department chairman Paul Shackel wrote in an e-mail. But courses that involve Native American subject matter will be offered with the Latin American studies program, he added.
The canceled courses were never meant to be permanent classes, American studies department chairwoman Nancy Struna said, adding they were primarily put together this semester as pilot courses for the respective departments.
“When we talked about putting the courses in for the spring, we only meant for it to go on for one semester,” Struna said. “We wanted to see how it went, and that’s a fair statement. I understand the frustration when students want courses and they’re not offered. We just can’t afford to do everything.”
Unaware of the courses’ temporary status, assistant director for the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Education Dottie Bass said to her knowledge the debate has always centered around available funds.
“All I’m hearing about is the budget. That’s the only thing I can go on,” Bass said, adding that the only way to get accurate information was to talk to all the players involved.
Budget cuts to the university’s departments have put more than just the Native American courses on the chopping block, Struna said. Departments are having to reevaluate courses and make cuts to deal with university budget cuts, making the likelihood of reinstating any pilot courses difficult to determine.
“Because Native Americans are such an important part of [American] culture, it’s for that reason that I say personally that we need those courses,” said Struna. “We would like to push forward and get more funding, period. And that’s what people aren’t talking about. It’s a matter of which courses we can offer. If you don’t have the money, which ones do you not offer?”
Over the last year, the department of anthropology has absorbed substantial budget cuts, Shackel said. Last year the department was able to hire 12 adjunct professors, but was only able to enlist three this year.
“These recent state budget cuts have hurt everybody,” Shackel said. “And we have to make some tough decisions about what we can do as a department.”
So far, there have been no talks with the office of the provost for more department funding. However, Struna and Shackel are planning to meet with Dustin Richardson, president of the AISU, to discuss both the reinstatement of the two cut courses and the future of Native American-centered classes.
“It is so rewarding that students are able to learn about different diverse groups, and what better way to learn than through education?” Bass said. “But in order for students to be educated, we must have the opportunity for students to learn not only American history, but the history that made America.”
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