Legislative bill AB 1040, Muratsuchi, was among the many bills that were discussed in the “Policy Issues for 2021 Session” section of the legislative update during the Long Beach City College Board of Trustees Meeting on March 24.
Wendy Koenig, Art History Professor and Chairwoman for the Curriculum Committee of LBCC, said “We’re absolutely ahead of the game, ready to go,” about the bill.
The bill requires each community college district to offer courses in ethnic studies at each of its campuses commencing with the 2022-23 academic year. The bill was introduced last year but did not move due to the pandemic.
This bill comes after the passing of Assembly Bill 1460, Weber, which requires CSU students to take ethnic studies courses to graduate commencing with the class of 2024-25.
“As soon as we learned that (ethnic studies at CSU’s) would be a lower division, we immediately went to work,” said the chairwoman.
Koenig reached out to faculty members asking for an interest in writing a course for ethnic studies since they were highly interested in being a part of the agreement.
“We actually created a course that we wrapped up in December. It was approved so we have an ethnic studies course which is an introduction to ethnic studies course and an honors course,” said Professor Koenig.
The course was approved locally, chaptered at the chancellor’s office and submitted to the CSU to get their approval in hopes of adding it to the Plan B course pattern. The course has also been discussed to be included with the Plan A course pattern.
“We feel really good about AB1040 coming forward because we’ve already responded in anticipation of it. Everybody that I’ve talked to in our curriculum committee is extremely supportive of even adding perhaps an ethnic studies requirement before we heard about this one,” said Koenig.
According to Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs, Kathy Scott, the passage of this bill is critical for the future of higher learning.
Vice President Scott said, “The passage of this legislation is critical. We’ve been working very hard at our institution to be more inclusive of our students and their backgrounds and experiences in our curriculum.”
For LBCC and the requirements for the CSU’s, the ethnic studies course has to address the following groups; Asian American, Native American, African American and Latinx. LBCC’s course will address all four.
“We want students generally to be aware of the experiences of others and have the opportunities to discuss those experiences to think critically about them. It adds to an environment that’s respectful and inclusive of everyone and it helps make students into well rounded citizens who have that background to be empathetic and to feel the experiences of others,” said the vice president.
The death of George Floyd was an incredible turning point in the nation’s political climate. The resulting protests have shown the need for racial inclusivity for all races affected in our country.
Professor Koenig said, “I think that the political environment and many of the events that are taking place right now have only encouraged colleges to think about this is important. People need to understand their history and they need to understand why these things are such long standing problems and how we can address them.”
As a result of the inclusion of ethnic studies at the college, VP Scott hopes that courses make students more inclusive in them.
“We hope that students will feel more of a sense of belonging and that our curriculum is being as responsive to their backgrounds and their experiences,” said Vice President Scott.
Professor Koenig added, “Students respond so much more when they feel like they are part of a class when their histories are recognized, when their cultures are recognized and when they’re valued.”
The school is looking at Fall 2021 to have the introduction to ethnic studies course available. Three professors already on staff are qualified to teach the courses and the school is searching for a full time instructor to teach it as well.
Professor Koenig said, “That’s a really good sign that the institution is supportive and is very serious about making this happen because potentially every student who wants to transfer is going to take this … It’s really exciting, I think people are really on board.”