The Department of Ethnic Studies at Western Washington University is expanding its class offerings this Spring. Launched in fall 2024, this department has roots in the former College of Ethnic Studies. The college was established in 1969 but closed in 1978 due to budget concerns, enrollment decline and high faculty turnover, among other factors cited by the Program Study Committee at the time. The new department is a result of student activism, not unlike the college was.
Rick Bonus, Chair of the Department of American Ethnic Studies at the University of Washington, noted how the discipline's history is tied to social movements and racial reckonings of the 1960s.
"I believe in the vision and in the mission of ethnic studies, in terms of producing scholarship that's meant to be transformative and meant to be public-facing and community-engaged," Bonus said. "It's one of those rare programs in an educational institution that grew out of student protests."
Read the full article through this link Department of Ethnic Studies at WWU expanding class offerings this spring - The Front.