By Michael Burke, Ed Source, July 22, 2020
Students at California State University for the first time will be required to take a course in ethnic studies or a class with a social justice component under a policy approved Wednesday by the system’s Board of Trustees.
The trustees voted 13-5 to approve the new general education requirement for students who enter the 23-campus system beginning in 2023-24. Students will be required to either take a class in one of four ethnic studies disciplines — Native American studies, African American studies, Asian American studies or Latina and Latino studies — or a class in another discipline as long as the course has a social justice component. It will be up to each of the campuses to determine which courses meet the requirement.
The new requirement is opposed by several lawmakers and the California Faculty Association, who instead favor AB 1460, legislation that would impose a stricter ethnic studies requirement. Under that law, students beginning with those entering the system in 2021-22 would be required to take a class in one of the four ethnic studies disciplines and couldn’t satisfy the requirement with a course outside of those disciplines.
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