News Update

California Community Colleges faculty, students speak in support of ethnic studies requirement

Dozens of public commenters voiced support Monday for a proposal to require students at California’s community colleges pursuing an associate degree to take a three-unit class in ethnic studies.

The Board of Governors that oversees California’s 116 community colleges held a public hearing Monday on that proposal, which could go into effect for students entering the college system in fall 2022. The board is expected to vote to approve the requirement at its July meeting.

If that happens, every student pursuing an associate degree would need to take a class in Native American studies, African American studies, Asian American studies or Latina and Latino studies.

Manuel J. Vélez, chair of the Chicano Studies program at San Diego Mesa College, wrote in a public comment submitted to the Board of Governors that ethnic studies programs “serve a fundamental and essential purpose that has become increasingly and alarmingly clear in recent years.” Vélez added that the proposal reflects a “statewide and institutional commitment to ethnic studies and to addressing the systemic and structural racism that continue to plague our country and our educational systems.”

Dolores Davison, president of the Academic Senate for Community Colleges, said the proposal is “long overdue” and called it a first step for California’s community colleges “to combat issues of systemic racism.”

Beatriz Espinoza, a student at California State University Channel Islands, also spoke in support of the change. Espinoza, who transferred from Los Angeles Mission College and is majoring in Chicano studies, said that taking ethnic studies classes “has impacted me in different positive ways.”

“I was able to learn about the injustices that have been happening to us in the past as well as contemporary things that are are currently affecting us, specifically to our underserved communities. It also has encouraged me and motivated me to be a student leader,” said Espinoza, who was formerly the president of the Associated Student Organization at Los Angeles Mission College.

No one spoke in opposition of the ethnic studies proposal.


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