Tommy Cha
Over a few weeks ago, I talked to Erick Yanzon, AS VP for Diversity, about their experience with going to the Association for Ethnic Studies (AES) forty-sixth annual conference. The annual gathering took place March 8 to 10, 2018, at Virginia Commonwealth University, in Richmond, Virginia. One of the main reasons this conference is so beneficial, is because there are not very many schools in the United States that represent or support Ethnic Studies classes. History courses involving any people of color are referred to only as “American Studies” and do not include much representation in to the title if it is about black, Asian or Latinx people.
The conference had workshops to educate people about Ethnic Studies and other problems that revolve around that issue. For one workshop, there was a group of high schoolers from Rhode Island who gave a presentation on how they are implementing Ethnic Studies at their school.
As I talked more with Yanzon, I asked them why this means so much to them, and Yanzon responded, “I don’t want a cycle of students who burn out, then graduate.” They said it was pretty much a cycle of students of color who goes to Western, later find out how messed up the school is with people of color and Ethnic Studies, then try to do something about it, but would burn out because of more workload and stress for graduation; the cycle then repeats itself. Yanzon then continued on saying “we need YOU,” so this won’t die out and the younger students can take it on to bring change forward.
Last week, students voted on a referendum about having Ethnic Studies. It is for the students of Western to vote whether or not they want Ethnic Studies courses to be taught. If it is passed, it clearly means that students want this program, but it will not guarantee any classes to be taught right away. This may take a few years to put everything in place, hire people to teach, and get it approved. Maybe there is hope for Ethnic Studies in the future after all.
If you would like any more information about Ethnic Studies, get in contact with Erick Yanzon at the AS Board Office.
You can reach them at: VU 504B // 360-650-3463 // asvp.diversity@wwu.edu