Two weeks ago, the San Diego State Department of Africana Studies held a meeting, planning to picket every single university event to protest what it sees as 10 years of neglect by SDSU’s administration, beginning with a boycott of last Thursday’s convocation. However, the boycott was cancelled three days before when Dr. Shirley Weber, chair of the Department of Africanas Studies, and President Elliot Hirshman came to a tentative agreement.
“The Department has no confidence in your administration, and believes it is useless to engage in further conversation,” Weber wrote in an email last fall, to Dean of the College of Arts and Letters Paul Wong and Provost Nancy Marlin. “We have decided to take our issues directly to President Hirshman and the Africana American communities on and off campus for resolution.”
According to Weber, the Department of Africana Studies is SDSU’s only academic department “that is completely self-contained, that has experienced faculty losses without any new hires.” Weber said the department lost many faculty members because of layoffs and retirements duringthe last decade, but none have been replaced.
However, Weber called off the boycott when Hirshman agreed to a proposal, in which the department would be able to hire an additional tenure track professor for the Fall 2013 semester. Currently, the department has three full-time professors, now that Weber has retired from a full-time faculty position.
“It’s a small step, but it’s important,” Weber said.
Media Relations Manager Gina Jacobs said the decision to hire an additional faculty member was the result of a direct appeal made toHirshman by the university senate, which includes Marlin. Marlin was subject to much scrutiny by the Department of Africana Studies after she excluded it from a list of departments in need of additional hires.
While Weber said the department is still far from where it should be, she considers this a victory. She praised Hirshman for acknowledging the dire situation of the department, something other SDSU administrators have not entirely accomplished.
“(Hirshman) has been very supportive,” Weber said. “He’s listened, he’s heard, he’s been very reasonable.”
However, many involved with Africana Studies still see a long road ahead. Treasurer and Head of Publicity for the Association of Africana Studies Majors and Minors Shelly Stamps said while increasing the number of professors from three to four is an improvement, the small number of full-time faculty stretches the whole department very thin.
Stamps, who is double-majoring in Africana studies and art with an emphasis in multimedia, said the administration has been justifying its treatment of the department by pointing out the relatively low number of students majoring orminoring in Africana Studies. Stamps said this is something of a catch-22, because people aren’t motivated to join a major with so few faculty members and resources.
“It’s impossible for a department to strive with only three tenured professors,” Stamps said. “I’m taking 15 units this semester and four of my classes are with the same professor.”
Jacobs said Hirshman is committed to raising non-state funds to pay for the new professor’s salary for the next three years, after which the salary will come out of state funds.
