A number of students at Barnard College have drafted a petition demanding their college take proper steps to “diversify” the current academic requirements for English majors required by the college, arguing that there is too much focus on “Eurocentric” authors.
“Barnard’s English major requirements give total focus to overwhelmingly white (not to mention male) authors,” the petition reads. “This is due mostly to the four pre-1900s requirements, a lack of diverse courses overall, lack of faculty of color, and focus on the Western Canon as the standard for literary excellence.”
According to the petition, authored by current Barnard student Mya Nunnally, Barnard is ensuring a “vicious, exclusionary cycle” because their literary teachings emphasize the thoughts of white European authors.
‘By focusing on Eurocentric literature, Barnard’s English major perpetuates a vicious, exclusionary cycle,” the students claim. “Even though Barnard claims the major teaches students a “heightened understanding of culturally significant texts,” it seems the only culture it cares about are those of white Europeans.”
According to Nunnally, the university has largely ignored requests from students for more diversity, even telling them that there are plenty of diverse options currently offered to students. Yet, based on Nunnally’s interpretations of the courses, only two qualify as diverse.
“Professors have told me that there are plenty of offerings for more diverse reading,” writes Nunnally. “Yet as of today, there are only TWO classes that focus on writers of color in the TWENTY-SIX classes offered this semester in the Barnard English Department (excluding creative writing classes). Two out of twenty six — hardly seems like ‘plenty of offerings’ in my book.”
In order to properly diversify the English major, the students of Barnard have produced a list of demands, including more classes on non-American or non-European authors, hiring more faculty of color, and even requiring more emphasis on individuals of “marginalized voices (women, people of color, people with disabilities, etc.)” where applicable.
Students pay more than $68,000 a year to attend Barnard College full-time.
