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What is going on with Womens Studies and Ethnic Studies at @UHManoa and what we can do about it, a thread:
UH Mānoa is going through "reorganization," which, as anyone in the Humanities and Social Sciences (especially Ethnic Studies and Womens, Gender, and Sexuality Studies), is code for budget cuts and austerity measures. https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/09/uh-manoa-may-cut-theater-journalism-social-work-programs/
The university is "merging" religion (the only place where studies of Hawaiian religion is taught possibly in the world...) with philosophy (the racist department that attacked Haunani Kay Trask in the 90s), ENDING all Dance and art history programs, among others.
Additionally, the UH is proposing to put WS and ES under Interdisciplinary Studies––a department where, at UHM, students largely design their own degrees or select from preset majors that donʻt have departmental lines or funding.
WS and ES started out under IS––as @drlaniteves reminded me––and not only would this deter students further from majoring in ES and WS, but also would eliminate the department of ethnic studies and womens studies.
Why is this bad? Because for ES and WS to be departments means that they can hire tenure track lines, hold events, and create, in general, community for students. The UH saves NO MONEY by eliminating this program.
As one of my friends reminded me, the UH serves a HIGHLY conservative student base––particularly white kids from the US––and the elimination of the program definitely serves the interests of the UH in recruiting them.
So what can be done? SUBMIT TESTIMONY TO THE BOR TELLING THEM THEY CANNOT CUT ES AND WS AND DANCE!!! See @chumei808 ʻs thread for more info: https://twitter.com/chumei808/status/1305596909269131264?s=20
Just as a reminder: UH ES started during the various land struggles––Kalama Valley, Waiahole-Waikane, Kahoʻolawe, etc.––and those ES students like Aunty Terri Kekoʻolani had a HUGE part in organizing against the settler state.
Today, ES students are the ones leading movements from Mauna Kea to Kahuku to the diaspora. Saving Ethnic Studies means saving the culture of activism, organizing, and art that ES has fostered on the UHM campus. anyway, SUBMIT TESTIMONY!! https://twitter.com/chumei808/status/1305596911580110849?s=20
Similarly, WS has been PIVOTAL in fostering spaces on campus for women, non-binary, LGBTQ+ folks. See @drlaniteves ʻs post as well. https://twitter.com/drlaniteves/status/1305784018466566145?s=20
SAVE UH DANCE! Here’s a readymade form for you to submit testimony!! All you have to do is add your name and you can personalize the email too!! https://form.jotform.com/202556573884062?fbclid=IwAR0B1dvrLWnG4MQ5iVYVskpHWZb6pfYmwoVZcs_59zHRVtyFU_fR4FSecFU
