Green Light for Black Studies

Following a recent recommendation by its executive committee, the faculty has unanimously approved the merit of the Black Studies program and voted to expand it under the new name of African and Afro-American Studies. In addition to the study of black history and culture in the Americas after emancipation, the program now will also focus on black history and culture in Africa and in the New World before emancipation.

The recommendation followed conclusions reached in a recently completed review by committees of outside experts and Dartmouth faculty members. The review took three years to finish, but the findings won approval more easily than was expected. As is customary with academic programs at Dartmouth, Black Studies was reviewed in the fifth year of its existence, and another standard five-year review will follow in due course.

In statements to the faculty and in a letter to The Dartmouth, William W. Cook, associate professor of English and chairman of African and Afro-American studies, stressed the distinction between academic departments and programs, pointing to the "coordinating function" that programs fulfill. Students with an interest in African studies, for example, take appropriate courses in history, music, drama, and art from the departments covering those disciplines.

"Programs were created by the faculty of Dartmouth College to deal with those areas of study which by their very nature demand a cross- or inter-disciplinary approach, " Cook stated, enumerating the College's other programs in Asian Studies, Comparative Literature, Environmental Studies, Mathematics-Social Sciences, Native American Studies, Policy Studies, Urban and Regional Studies, and Women's Studies.