Photo by Artemis Chen ‘25
By Arianna Peña ’25
Staff Writer
On Tuesday, March 29, 74 Mount Holyoke community members gathered on Zoom to hear multiple professors discuss the creation of a new department and the future of the Africana Studies, Critical Social Thought and Latinx studies departments. Led by Class of 1929 Dr. Virginia Apgar Assistant Professor of Latina/o Studies Vanessa Rosa and Iyko Day, Elizabeth C. Small associate professor of English and chair of Critical Social Thought and Gender Studies, the event was held during the College’s annual Building On Our Momentum Conference. Faculty members joined Rosa and Day, having all worked towards the formation of this department for around six years.
The panelists addressed the merger, what it would mean for students and why they believed it would help both students and faculty in the long run.
In 2015, Day and Christian Gundermann, associate professor of gender studies, collaborated to create a proposal for a faculty line in Critical Race and Ethnic Studies with a focus on queer of color critique, according to Day. “Our proposal …was funded and that led to the hiring of Professor Ren-yo Hwang and Professor Rosa, so it was really exciting,” Day said.
During the process of finding new faculty, members of the College and the surrounding Five Colleges were encouraged to join in and ask questions to the candidates. Day remembers a lot of buzz and excitement around Critical Race and Ethnic Studies.
After the success of their efforts, they “had deep discussions about ‘What is critical ethnic studies?’ [and] ‘How can we implement that here at Mount Holyoke?’” Day said.
It was Jon Western, former dean of faculty and vice president for academic affairs at Mount Holyoke, who encouraged the creation of the department after seeing the excitement and interest from students.
“That led to a whole series of discussions, meetings, faculty seminars, visits to other campuses like Barnard [College] and having people from U[niversity of] C[alifornia,] Riverside and Dartmouth [College],” Day said. “[We were really] collaborating with people nationally to really see what [the creation of the Critical Race and Ethnic Studies department] would mean and how we would structure it. In the end what we decided and demanded was that we would need a department.”
Day explained that a major problem with the current structure is that Africana Studies and Critical Social Thought are both programs, while Latinx Studies is a minor in the Spanish department. The small size of these programs leads to the staff being under-resourced and overworked. For example, Day works in the English and gender studies department, as well as the Critical Social Thought program.
“We thought ‘We can’t really do this unless we have a department.’ So we came together and we decided that’s what we need. … What that will mean is that we won’t be all of us stretched across different departments, … we can start hiring people,” Day explained.
Lucy James-Olson ’22, a student liaison for Critical Social Thought who attended the panel, expressed concern over how faculty are spread throughout different departments and programs.
“As it stands, faculty is stretched too thin and students suffer from a lack of clarity about how to major and what any given major requires,” James-Olson explained. “The College needs to commit to supporting these areas of study more meaningfully if they expect their students to develop critical thinking skills and understand the relations of power which affect us all.”
The new department would be called Critical Race and Political Economy and would allow students to study in one of three tracks: Africana Studies, Critical Social Thought or Critical Race and Political Economy. This would also mean that students would have access to more faculty and professors who are dedicated full-time to the department, something that they can not currently do.
“I think this merger is a good idea,” James-Olson said. “I think it also signals a commitment by faculty and administration to emphasize a focus on these areas of study which would include, hopefully, an increase in funding which is definitely needed.”
Day also acknowledged that there is currently a lack of community among the different programs despite overlap she has seen from students.
“We have all been working together for the past six years, we share so many students and we’re also noticing that so many students are … [thinking] about bigger ideas like abolition, colonialism, racial capitalism,” Day said. “We want to keep collaborating under this department [while] preserving the fields of Africana Studies, Critical Social Thought and also Latinx Studies and adding … Critical Race and Political Economy.”
James-Olson concluded, “I genuinely trust the faculty members who have been most involved in the proposal and creation of this department, so my hope is that it meets their expectations and improves the academic and community lives of Mount Holyoke students.”