The Ethnic Studies Implementation Committee developed a series of descriptive guidelines to facilitate implementation of the Ethnic Studies Requirement.
ESR courses must be offered for a minimum of 3 credits.
Evidence (e.g., syllabus, reading list) must be provided demonstrating that the course material illuminates the circumstances, conditions, and experiences of racial and ethnic minorities in the United States.
Courses that explore the circumstances, conditions, and experiences of racial and ethnic minorities in a comparative international format must devote at least 25% of the course (lecture, discussion, reading materials, etc.) to the experience and/or theoretical understanding of the means by which persistently marginalized groups in the US negotiate the conditions of exclusion or marginalization.
Courses that explore the condition of U.S. ethnic groups that were at one time marginalized but which have since been widely assimilated into the dominant U.S. culture must devote at least 25% of the course to the experience and/or theoretical understanding of the means by which persistently marginalized groups in the US negotiate the conditions of exclusion or marginalization.
In cases where religion is intertwined with respect to ethnic/racial minorities that are persistently marginalized or discriminated against in the U.S., courses that focus on religion may fulfill the ESR.
(These guidelines were approved by University Academic Planning Council action, as reported in the Provost's 6-10-2005 memo accepting the final report of the Ethnic Studies Implementation Committee.)
Additional observations:
As a convenience to students, the ethnic studies content should also be reflected in information readily available to students (course title, catalog descriptions, and in some cases, syllabi) when they select courses.
In general, courses with variable topics will not qualify as Ethnic Studies courses unless the topic title and catalog description clearly indicate that courses offered under that topic title will ALWAYS meet the ethnic studies criteria. For example, "Topics in Race and Class in the US" would be likely to qualify, whereas a more general title ("Topics in Sociology") would not.
