California State University will require undergraduate students to complete ethnic studies or social justice courses to graduate.
California State University, the largest four-year university system in the country, approved a proposal Wednesday to add a required class on ethnic disciplines beginning in the 2023-24 school year, according to EdSource. The change will cost $3 million to $4 million.
“It’s grounded in ethnic studies, but it is broader, more inclusive, gives students choice,” Chancellor Timothy White said before he voted in favor of the change.
The move was six years in the making and is the first change to the school system’s general education program in 40 years, according to Fox News.
Students have the option of completing the requirement through different courses, such as Native American studies, African American studies, Asian American studies, Latina and Latino studies, or a class with a social justice component.
Some local lawmakers opposed the decision, instead favoring stricter legislation on ethnic studies requirements, which would go into effect beginning in the 2021 school year. The legislation would mandate that students complete a course in one of four disciplines, such as African American studies, and no other courses would satisfy the requirement.
The legislation, AB 1460, passed the state Senate and is now in the hands of the state Assembly, which it needs to pass before it would head to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.
“Advocates for making a course in ethnic studies a requirement for graduation have waited long enough for the CSU to act,” a group of 20 lawmakers said in a letter to White. “The changes proposed by the Chancellor’s office will significantly water down the intent of AB 1460 and will result in something akin to a ‘diversity’ requirement, which was not developed in collaboration with the CSU Council on Ethnic Studies.”
White has said that the government mandating required courses is “dangerous.”
“Government specifying a specific curriculum area is extraordinarily dangerous,” White said. “Let’s not cross that Rubicon.”
