Since a 1994 report called for increasing undergraduates' academic exposure to different cultures, the University has made progress in broadening its course offerings. However, high-level administrators said there are currently no plans to add a cultural studies requirement to the existing distribution requirements.
In the decade since the release of the report on diversity and the curriculum, which recommended the University expand its efforts to expose students to diverse cultures and perspectives, the number of undergraduate courses related to race and culture has risen. In addition, most of the programs that focus on the study of other cultures have experienced a recent increase in the number of students seeking certificates.
In the 1996-1997 academic year, 70 courses in 24 departments and programs were identified as dealing with "race, ethnicity and cross-cultural encounter," while in 2003-2004, 182 such courses were available in 29 departments and programs, Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel said.
In addition to the course increases, the African, American, Near Eastern, East Asian, European Cultural and Latin-American studies programs have all reported increases in the number of students earning certificates over the last five years.
Proposed requirement
Looking at the numbers, the University seems to be experiencing a small renaissance in regional and cultural studies.
But despite these changes, some of the issues the 1994 report attempted to deal with — particularly the creation of a cultural studies distribution requirement — remain unresolved, and some students said they feel the University is not doing enough to ensure students graduate with a broad exposure to cultures other than their own.
"There is a lot to choose from here in terms of courses but some opportunities aren't given the credit they deserve," said Leslie-Bernard Joseph '06, president of the Black Student Union. "Everyone basically majors in the big five departments: history, English, Woodrow Wilson School, economics and politics. A lot of people don't take the time to learn about different cultures, and I think that the University needs to say that it is important to do so."
Joseph is one of a number of students and campus leaders who supports the creation of a cultural studies distribution requirement. It would most likely take the form of a class that could be fulfilled at the same time as an already existing requirement like literature or history rather than as an additional requirement, he said.
A proposal to add a cultural studies requirement was put forward three years ago as a result of the findings of a USG task force on campus race relations, USG president Matt Margolin '05 said.
The proposal seems to have disappeared in the administrative process, and although it attracted student attention last December, the process is largely out of the UGS's hands and into those of the administration, he added.
But despite some student support for the proposal, change seems unlikely in the near future.
Hank Dobin, associate dean of the college, said that he had not seen any proposals for such a requirement, and President Tilghman said that a requirement would not be added unless an overhaul of the entire requirement structure was deemed necessary.
"We would never make the decision to add a requirement as a one-off decision," Tilghman said. "The last time we considered this, the decision was a result of a very serious effort to think through what all students should have exposure to, and we decided to focus on 'ways of knowing.' I think that process led to a comprehensive and well-defined set, and we would want to go back to the beginning if the current categories were decided not to be right."
The current set of distribution requirements was approved in 1995 and first implemented in 1996, so it is unlikely the topic would be addressed again in the near future, Malkiel said.
The University last dealt with these issues in 1994 when it released the Report of the Committee on Diversity and Liberal Education.
Under former president Harold Shapiro GS '64, the committee was charged with examining ways to strengthen undergraduate exposure to diverse cultures and consider the possibility of a cultural studies distribution requirement.
The report concluded that a cultural studies distribution requirement could possibly produce resentment on the part of students and "divert attention from the important pedagogical purposes" served by the study of culture.
Instead, the committee recommended expanding the number of diversity-related courses to encourage students to take more of such classes and attract faculty with diverse interests.
New institute
The newest and most visible sign of change is the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, established last summer under the direction of sociology professor Miguel Centeno.
PIIRS was conceived as an institution that would bring together scholars and students who focus on regional studies with those who focus on the study of broader, international issues, Tilghman said. The institute also pools resources that were formerly distributed around the University and will work to make sure that students leave the University with a more global perspective, she added.
Next year alone PIIRS hopes to sponsor 15 to 20 new courses on international and regional themes and is looking to strengthen its South-Asian offerings with the development of two to five new seminars and classes on South- Asian history and culture and the introduction of Hindi classes next fall.
"These are classes that any department would love to offer but they don't have the resources themselves," he said. "It is very hard for departments to deal with the necessities and cover all of the areas they want to cover. PIIRS can fill in holes as they appear."
Enrollment growth
In addition to PIIRS, many of the individual programs are also experiencing a period of restructuring and growth. African Studies, for example, has seen its faculty nearly double in the last five years, according to program director Emmanuel Kreike. The number of certificates awarded also jumped from six in 1994 to 14 in 2003. Twenty-one students plan to earn a certificate this year, and enrollment in courses focusing on Africa has also increased, Kreike added.
He said that the increased interest could be attributed in part to the growing number of African students at the University but also to an increased interest in global issues such as AIDS.
The Near Eastern Studies program also attributes the increased interest in its classes and certificate program partly to increased interest in world affairs and culture after Sept. 11, 2001.
"In 2000-2001 we only had two certificates, but this year we have ten," program director M. Sukru Hanioglu said. "This is in part due to world events and probably also to our efforts to make courses more appealing to students. We now have more courses taught by young professors like Michael Doran on the modern Middle East."
Program directors cite the combined forces of global events and enhanced course offerings as factors that have helped these programs — as well as Latin American studies, East Asian studies, European cultural studies and American studies — achieve some of their highest certificate enrollments in years.
Study abroad
Departments and programs are also working to more closely integrate study abroad into their curriculum. African studies is developing a summer seminar focused on fieldwork in Africa for rising juniors, and Slavic Languages and Literatures is working on a Princeton-in-St. Petersburg program, modeled on Princeton-in-Beijing.
Some programs are also working together to create inter-program classes like this spring's AMS 352/ECS 352: The Transatlantic '60s: Culture and Politics in Europe and the United States, taught by Anson Rabinbach and Sean Wilentz, directors of the European cultural and American studies programs, respectively.
Slower growth for AMS
Despite growth within these programs, the University has not done as much as it had hoped to diversify the curriculum, especially in regards to the American Studies Program, which has not seen as much curricular restructuring and growth in its course offerings as the University had hoped it would after the 1994 report, Malkiel said.
"There is always the need and the room to do better, and it is imperative to find ways to do this," she said. "There was a period a few years ago when we tried to create a flagship course for American studies that was interdisciplinary and cross-cultural, but it didn't quite work out and we haven't yet found a way to create a course that would be as compelling and necessary for students to take as Econ. 100 and 101."
American studies also organizes courses in Latino-American and Asian-American studies, an area Wilentz thinks the program can better represent in its course offerings.
African-American studies is the only separate program with an emphasis on different cultural experiences within the United States, and it has seen tremendous growth in faculty and course restructuring over the last few years, Tilghman said.
Ultimately, no matter how hard the University tries to develop these programs, it can only do so much with the resources that it has, particularly since funding is so limited for much of the humanities, said Caryl Emerson, chair of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures.
Faculty is also limited and the range of courses that could be offered is immense. The key to the problem, as both Emerson and Tilghman said, seems to be finding the right balance of cultural offerings.
"We have a problem if we are committed to historical coverage and want diversity across a wide range of disciplines," Emerson said. "Can you spread out methodology and still get depth? Also, can you quickly learn about a genuinely alien culture? If you only sample a little bit you have nothing to organize around but theory. It is dangerous to do too much, but it is shameful to do nothing."
Read More
Economics professor Kate Ho passes away after long battle with cancer
Devon RudolphProfessor Kate Ho made seminal contributions to the economics of modeling competition in the healthcare sector and taught well-loved courses in industrial organization.
Professor Kate Ho made seminal contributions to the economics of modeling competition in the healthcare sector and taught well-loved courses in industrial organization.
Pedestrian left in critical condition after traffic collision on Nassau Street
Luke GrippoThe pedestrian was struck by a westbound 2015 Ford Explorer around 11:32 p.m. The driver was identified in the press release as a 39-year-old Princeton resident who cooperated with officers upon their arrival.
The pedestrian was struck by a westbound 2015 Ford Explorer around 11:32 p.m. The driver was identified in the press release as a 39-year-old Princeton resident who cooperated with officers upon their arrival.
Senior class jacket abruptly changed following accusations of AI design
Vitus LarrieuFor more than a century, Princeton seniors have donned “beer jackets” to protect their clothes during Reunions and commencement celebrations, typically with elaborate designs chosen by a class-wide contest. Now, with a selection process marred by accusations of generative AI use, the Class of 2026 may have written its own spot in Princeton history.
For more than a century, Princeton seniors have donned “beer jackets” to protect their clothes during Reunions and commencement celebrations, typically with elaborate designs chosen by a class-wide contest. Now, with a selection process marred by accusations of generative AI use, the Class of 2026 may have written its own spot in Princeton history.