Members of the task force on Africana studies are set to deliver their final conclusions on the future of the study of the African Diaspora at Tufts near the end of this month, with the administration prepared to use its recommendations in making a decision on the issue by September.
Dean of Arts and Sciences Joanne Berger-Sweeney in February announced the creation of the task force, largely in response to an appeal from the Pan-African Alliance for the university to form an Africana studies department.
The Tufts Community Union Senate in November passed a resolution in support of the appeal and asked the university to consider transforming the existing Africa in the New World minor into an Africana studies major and department.
The task force is composed of a chair — Wellesley College Professor Emeritus Wilbur Rich — two Tufts undergraduate students, seven Tufts faculty members and administrators and faculty members from Dartmouth College and Brown University. Another external member, a faculty member from Harvard University, has dropped out of the task force since its inception, Berger-Sweeney said.
The Tufts representatives of the task force have submitted their unofficial recommendations to Berger-Sweeney, and they are expected to join the group's external members in briefing the administration on an official report by the end of the month, according to Dean of Academic Affairs for Arts and Sciences Andrew McClellan, a member and spokesperson for the task force.
The external members of the task force joined the Tufts team earlier this month for two days of meetings with administrators, students and each other in hopes of rounding out their consideration of the feasibility of an Africana studies department or possible alternatives, said McClellan.
The task force received feedback on its findings in a May 12 meeting with a group of students who had previously shown interest in the issue.
Rising junior Groom Dinkneh, who was present at the meeting, said he saw it as an opportunity to hold the administration accountable for its promises of a "holistic education."
"We were there to explain why Africana studies is important and why it's pivotal to enhancing our experience," Dinkneh said.
In recent months, students have urged the task force and the administration through letters and public displays to consider creating an Africana studies department with, the message that such a department would broaden the university's academic offerings to represent a larger segment of the student body.
The creation of an Africana studies department or major would be a critical step toward that goal, according to Dinkneh.
"The goal of a college education is to expose yourself to difficult issues and difficult conversations," he said. "It's important to introduce as many views as possible. If we're allowed to open our minds to those issues now, it will not only create a better society but healthier individuals who seek to understand each other."
Berger-Sweeney, University President-elect Anthony Monaco and members of the Office of the Provost will meet throughout the summer to discuss how to proceed and will deliver a final decision to the student body in September, according to Berger-Sweeney.
The task force has considered multiple options, including the creation of an Africana studies program instead of a department, in striving to reach a consensus on a structure that would heed students' calls for a furthered commitment to academic diversity.
"The task force had a variety of recommendations," McClellan said. "Different people on the task force favored different types of programs and activities. Members were equally divided among the different options."
McClellan stressed that the task force has performed its duty well.
"Our job is to represent the best interest for Tufts as an institution," he said. "We were trying to find the best solution that fits the different constituencies that make up the university community. We've done exactly what we needed to do."
Looking forward, Berger-Sweeney said she will use multiple criteria in deliberating the path the university will take with regard to Africana studies at Tufts.
"I believe that [Africana studies] is a field that is very forward-looking and is relevant not [only] tomorrow but also 20 years from now," she said. "But we're also trying to determine if a department would be the kind of entity that students would want to participate in."
Berger-Sweeney expressed concerns that the creation of a new department may not encourage a sustainable academic structure, noting that interdisciplinary studies are becoming increasingly relevant.
"I believe in general that academic departments are a nineteeth-century structure — they aren't the most fluid or forward-thinking," she said. "The future of [academia] is organizing ideas, curricula and faculty in a more fluid organization that allows for the intersection of knowledge as opposed to siloing knowledge into departmental structures."
Berger-Sweeney added that because departments are created with the ultimate approval of the faculty, it would have to be strongly supportive of a department before any decisions were made.
McClellan pointed out that academic departments are slow to develop and require a significant number of new faculty members.
"Creating new departments is very rare; they are difficult and time-consuming," he said. "We cannot simply add as many faculty positions as we would like due to financial constraints."
Berger-Sweeney acknowledged that a new academic structure would not by itself necessarily alleviate concerns about of how issues of race and diversity are handled at Tufts.
"We need to think seriously about how to address diversity and inclusion as well as campus climate," she said. "Curriculum and climate are different, and you can't just compound them. Diversity is too complex an issue to think that a department will solve all issues of diversity and inclusion … it's not a silver bullet."
Berger-Sweeney added that the administration would continue to strive to strengthen faculty diversity across all existing academic departments.
"Not all the diversity should be concentrated in one department," she said. "We need to be thinking not just about the racial and ethnic diversity of faculty members but what kind of courses they will teach," she said.
