Losing Sight of Our Education
by Roohi EbrahimThe administration's lack of transparency in the IAS restructuring
The plan to restructure the International Area Studies Teaching Program (IASTP) has been far from welcomed by students and faculty. Currently, the IASTP is comprised of six undergraduate majors: Asian Studies, Development Studies, Latin American Studies, Middle East Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, and Political Economy of Industrialized Societies, as well as three graduate degree programs: Asian Studies, International & Area Studies, and Latin American Studies. The program is home to about 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students on campus. In addition, the teaching program services students from other majors all across the University. With such a variety of majors under it, the IASTP encompasses a number of the few departments on campus that helps ethnic groups understand their history in a non-Eurocentric way. Damaging its robustness could limit its efficacy in this respect.
University officials’ decision to restructure the program can be best described as a unilateral action with complete disregard for transparency. The administration has made this decision without involving the most important stakeholders—students and faculty. Although Executive Vice Chancellor Provost (EVCP) George Breslauer says he consulted several faculty members regarding the decision to restructure, he also states, “Consultation does not mean taking a vote … The role of senior administrators is to consult, not to concede decision-making responsibility choices to public vote. We are responsible for making the hard choices, since unanimity and consensus are typically unattainable.”
My question here is: does this type of consultation even hold any weight at the end of the day since the administration ultimately holds all decision-making power? In fact, the majority of faculty members found out about the decision to restructure at the same time as students, through an e-mail that was sent out right before spring break. So who did the administration even bother to consult with if it wasn’t with the people involved most in IASTP?
What needs to be acknowledged is that without a dean, the department would lose its representation on the administrative level. According to the current IAS Associate Dean Ananya Roy, the Global Poverty and Practice minor—the fastest growing minor at UC Berkeley— might not even exist today were it not for the advocacy of a dean’s office and the Blum Center. It becomes quite evident after analyzing these elements that eliminating the dean would hinder further development in IAS.
Moreover, the EVCP’s decision to restructure the IAS Department by eliminating the deanship position sets the dangerous precedent of decision-making without integrating the opinions of faculty and students. The EVCP’s consultation process has been sharply criticized and questioned. The vast majority of IASTP students feel entirely excluded.
Student and ASUC representatives have tried to set up appointments with administration to discuss these changes in detail. However, administration has not been cooperative. In response, Support IAS Coalition members stated in a letter to the Chancellor and EVCP, “We do not accept your dismissal of ASUC representatives by avoiding or postponing meetings. Nor do we accept your dismissal of our concerns as invalid while you refuse to provide evidence to the contrary.” Last Wednesday, Support IAS Coalition members organized outside of California Hall to set up an appointment with the dean to discuss the restructuring of the IASTP.
The EVCP’s decision to restructure the IASTP isn’t just an isolated case—it reflects a systematic problem of transparency in decision-making that affects various departments. This is just a continuation of the administration’s attitude from last year when the East Asian Languages were threatened with a 40% and 66% cut to the Japanese and Korean language programs, respectively.
The decision to restructure certainly debilitates the IAS department as a whole. However, Breslauer doesn’t think so. He states in an e-mail to Academic Affairs Vice President Carlo de la Cruz, “Removal of the IAS deanship resolves a structural problem that has persisted throughout much of the twenty-year history of this unit. There has been a persistent, often counterproductive, tension between the interests of the dean and interests of the directors of many research institutes.” Breslauer openly states that the university prioritizes research more than it does the undergraduate education and future of IASTP students.
Another important aspect to note is that the extremely limited information given to students by administration seems to constantly be changing. At first, the EVCP had said there were no budgetary reasons behind the restructuring. Later, he claimed that eliminating the deanship position would save the campus approximately $250,000 and was much needed given the university’s budget constraints. However, in a more recent meeting with Carlo de la Cruz on April 17, 2009 Breslauer updated the figure to $150,000. More importantly, he added that “hard budget times make this reorganization easiest to digest but the main reason is not necessarily budgetary.” Because the arguments for the restructuring are constantly being changed, it is difficult for students to find out what exactly is happening. This is a problem; we need a better system of communication between students and administrators to allow students to truly understand all the changes being made.
What does this mean for all IAS majors? How exactly are current and prospective students within the department going to adapt to these changes? For those of you who are unfamiliar with IASTP, it is a program that prides itself in being a department with a diverse range of students who have a broad range of interests. It offers courses which support both contemporary and historical research on every region of the world. The program has served as a model institution for several universities across the country and many campuses have started upgrading their programs based on our standards and prestige. Therefore, downgrading the program on our campus would put us out of sync with other universities. For example, UCLA has a Vice Provost that is specifically dedicated to its IAS Department while the IAS Department on our campus is not even going to have a dean.
From an Asian and Pacific Islander (API) standpoint, restructuring the IAS department fundamentally damages a program that gives students an international perspective. Many API’s have benefited from the IAS department because it enables them to develop a better understanding of their heritage, while non-API’s learn more about API histories and cultures. The program tries to provide students with a multi-perspective, non-Eurocentric view so that global issues are not just talked about in terms of the West vs. the Orient but in a dynamic and historical context. Meghana Dhar states, “As an IAS major, I have been able to take a variety of courses that have allowed me to see the different aspects of global culture and I do believe that those aspects and experiences are not replaceable by any other department.” In fact, the IAS department encourages students to take courses in a multitude of departments on campus. It is this unique interdisciplinary approach that has attracted so many students to the department. The IASTP is a valuable asset to the UC Berkeley campus; it would be an incredible loss to have it downgraded in any way.
As students we need to take action now against our administration’s non-transparent and unilateral approach. Given the economic recession at hand and the budget cuts already directed toward California public schools, it is inevitable that crucial budget decisions will have to be made. It is frightening to imagine what might happen next year since the administration has already decided that they are the sole decision makers and do not need to consult all parties at stake. The time to take a stand is now—before it's too late.
For those of you who are interested in learning more or joining the IAS Coalition, check out the Facebook group “Support Cal International and Area Studies” or the student coalition’s new blog at www.supportIAScoalition.org. You can contact the group at supportIAScoalition@gmail.com.