As the Assembly of the Academic Senate votes on the proposal this April, students and faculty face challenges in advocacy
By Khadeejah Khan — campus@theaggie.org
In April 2025, the Assembly of the Academic Senate will be voting on A-G/H Ethnic Studies, a proposal that would require high school students to take a non-additive, one-semester ethnic studies course for admission into the University of California. This proposal was previously postponed at the Dec. 12 Meeting of the Assembly.
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 101 in October 2021, requiring the completion of a one-semester ethnic studies course for high school graduation starting with the class of 2030, according to Newsom’s website. The bill states that in the 2025-26 school year, California schools are required to begin offering ethnic studies courses. While AB 101 is already California law, authors of Area A-G/H Ethnic Studies believe that adopting the proposal will place the UC system in a position of leadership and guidance for school districts who are fulfilling the new requirement.
Natalia Deeb-Sossa, a professor of Chicano and Chicana Studies at UC Davis, expressed her opinions on the purpose of the proposal.
“We already have our knowledge and critical understanding of our histories, cultures, intellectual traditions, lived experiences and social struggles,” Deeb-Sossa said. “But the reality is that our history, the history of Chicanx, Latinx, Asian American, Black and Native American people has never been taught in K-12.”
When making the proposal, various studies that were considered have shown that students who have taken ethnic studies courses prior to college admission earn higher standardized test scores, grade point averages and increased school attendance, according to Deeb-Sossa.
Because A-G/H Ethnic Studies is non-additive, the requirement does not necessarily have to be fulfilled through a separate ethnic studies class, but can instead be fulfilled through an overlay — an already existing course that meets ethnic studies course criteria, according to the bill.
A Legacy of Advocacy
Ethnic studies is a field born from student advocacy and protest at San Francisco State University (SFSU) in the 1960s, according to Christine Hong, a professor of critical race, ethnic studies and literature at UC Santa Cruz. A coalition of students from the university’s Black Student Union, Latin American Students Organization, Asian American Political Alliance and more formed the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) in 1968, where they demanded the establishment of ethnic studies programs that taught the experiences and history of their communities, according to an article by KQED. As the movement grew, in 1969, UC Berkeley students formed another Third World Liberation Front and UC Davis students launched the Third World Forum, a student-run and published newspaper in 1970, according to the UC Davis Library website.
Hong said that the historic origins of ethnic studies emerged out of student demand.
“When students are demanding a field, they’re pointing to ways in which student success can be supported,” Hong said. “This was true with Area (A-G/H) Ethnic Studies as well. It was students who initiated it.”
Today, students continue to carry on the legacy of advocating for ethnic studies with student organizations like the UC Students Association (UCSA), who represent over 230,000 university students. Currently, four UC student governments have passed resolutions in support of Area A-G/H Ethnic Studies: UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, UC San Diego and UC Riverside.
For UCSA President Aditi Hariharan, the legacy of student advocacy within California is an inspiration. However, she said recent policies restricting protest through time, place and manner are concerning, as she recognizes the impact of student protest historically, especially in the creation of ethnic studies.
“Ethnic studies is the forefront of why the UC Student Association even exists right now,” Hariharan said. “Student support for ethnic studies is not quiet. It is not hidden. It is loud, and we are strongly in support of it.”
Hariharan took her first ethnic studies class at UC Davis — an experience that she described as “revolutionary.” She believes that the Area A-G/H Ethnic Studies proposal is essential to serve California’s K-12 population, 80% of whom are students of color.
“I’ve never seen my race accurately represented to the proportion of students of South Asian heritage who I know go to the school,” Hariharan said. “When I went to my first ethnic studies class, it felt revolutionary in the sense of pulling apart all of these academic works that I had thought as foundational and unquestionable and realizing that there was so much more to explore and question.”
TWLF met challenges during the creation of ethnic studies with many students often facing police violence and arrests. Today, the struggle continues in the process of the Area A-G/H Ethnic Studies proposal.
Hong expanded on the exclusion of students in legal decisions.
“The baton has been passed from one generation to another of students who have fought for ethnic studies,” Hong said. “That baton has been passed to us too. But where are the students represented in the decision-making process? Why is it that students who are calling for ethnic studies are not lifted up in the system-wide Academic Senate and the Academic Assembly?”
A Series of “Procedural Irregularities”
Since 2020, the proposal has undergone a series of votes and what authors of the proposal describe as “procedural irregularities.”
The proposal itself was initially approved by the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) in late 2020. BOARS then voted in November 2021 to approve course criteria and once again in June 2023, which would allow for the proposal to be sent to the Academic Council. However, a third vote occurred in BOARS in November 2023 against approving the course criteria — six votes against, five votes approved and one abstained.
For Dylan Rodríguez, a professor in the Department of Black Study and Department of Media and Cultural Studies at UC Riverside, this process has been marked by “layers of insult.”
“That’s unheard of for the same thing to be voted on three times and for people to keep calling for votes, to keep calling for reviews, and so forth and so on,” Rodríguez said. “It is not only inconsistent, hypocritical and the worst type of double standard, it’s a complete obliteration of any notion of integrity or the Academic Senate review process.”
Sean Malloy, a professor of history, critical race and ethnic studies at UC Merced, believes that these instances reflect institutional racism that scholars in ethnic studies experience far too often.
“The white supremacy of the Academic Senate does not generally manifest in terms of racial slurs or people showing up wearing hoods,” Malloy said. “It shows up in the kind of proceduralism that marks some kinds of knowledge as legitimate and some kinds as requiring extra layers of proof.”
Beyond the meetings, this process has taken a toll, according to authors of the proposal and advocates. Some described experiences with receiving death threats, being held to a double standard and experiencing faltering health.
Deeb-Sossa shared her experiences with the continued struggle of including ethnic studies in K-12 education.
“I have been at the university for 18 years (going on 19 years), and to continue feeling that our fields and our scholarship is completely devalued at this level is deeply wounding,” Deeb-Sossa said.
The Road Ahead
Following the postponement vote at the Dec. 12 meeting, some groups in opposition of the proposal, including FAIR for All, celebrated the postponement claiming that the proposal is “political and sectarian.”
The Assembly of the Academic Senate will vote on Area A-G/H Ethnic Studies on April 17, 2025. Newsom’s January budget will likely impact the level of support and opposition in the April meeting, according to Academic Senate Chair Steven Cheung, as he cited funding as a point of debate in the December meeting. If approved, the criteria will be sent to UC President Michael V. Drake and will be presented to the UC Regents.
“A lot of it will be contingent on what happens with the governor’s budget,” Cheung said. “If it looks like it will be supported by the governor, (April) will be a very active meeting.”
For ethnic studies scholars like Hong, the proposal’s impact extends beyond the field of ethnic studies, but instead, all of California.
“Ethnic studies actually diversifies and expands the applicant pool not only to the UC but also to the professional and graduate schools,” Hong said. “If UC faculty in non-ethnic studies disciplines want their own field to have a vibrant future, they have to think much more broadly and critically about K-12 education than many of them are doing right now.”
Written by: Khadeejah Khan — campus@theaggie.org
