On Our Terms | Social power dynamics course should be required

Andrew Block Guest Writer

Vassar’s curriculum provides many opportunities to understand traditional forms of power and oppression—be it racism, sexism, homophobia, or otherwise. Through these educational experiences, students both learn about and acquire the skills to engage in community-building work in the College and beyond.

Yet, despite the benefits of courses on social power dynamics, entirely too many students pass through the College without taking any such classes. Some students don’t know these courses exist. Others do, but don’t really know what they’re all about. Still other students shy away because courses on more “traditional” topics enjoy greater popularity and prestige.

Student neglect of classes on social power and oppression creates a problem for everyone at the College. It prevents students from developing critical thinking skills on social inequity. And it shows that the College is failing in carrying out its mission to provide a “progressive education” and encourage civic participation.

To address such neglect, the Vassar community needs to show a deep, institutional commitment to providing a curriculum on social power and oppression—a commitment that goes beyond publicity campaigns and talks and lectures on the curriculum’s themes.

Vassar can make sure students have access to and benefit from this curriculum by requiring that we take one course on race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, or another category of social power. In so doing, the College would solve many of the reasons students aren’t taking these courses already, as students would be aware of their existence, would review their content, and would perceive them as important as traditional courses.

In institutionalizing a pedagogical commitment to exposing and undoing social inequity, Vassar can join a growing trend among its peer schools. Pomona College is on the verge of approving a plan that will require students to take a course in “The Dynamics of Difference and Power,” which “explore historically and/or contemporarily how race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and/or ability have been structured in the U.S. and beyond.” At Vassar, such a course requirement could cover similar topics. Many existing classes could easily fit within this requirement, including Race and Ethnicity (Africana Studies 258), Domestic Violence (Sociology 210), Queer Theory (Women’s Studies 380), and Constructions of Asian America (American Culture 275)—just to name a few.

Implementing a required course in social power and oppression at Vassar should not prove too difficult. First of all, there are existing models of how such a requirement would function. Moreover, students have voiced strong support for in the idea. At the open forum after the 2004 elections, several students stood up to speak in support of a Race and Ethnicity Studies requirement. During the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council meeting Feb. 26, several VSA representatives voiced their approval of a multicultural studies requirement. I support this requirement, and I think it can be expanded to include the study of gender, class, and sexuality.

The most complicated aspect of instituting a new studies requirement will be student collaboration with faculty and administrators to designate which courses fit within it, a task that is simply a matter of time, not principle.

We at Vassar often bristle at the concept of course requirements. The freedom students have in determining class schedules is a prominent reason many of us chose to attend this college. But a single required course in social power and oppression would not violate that freedom. Rather, it would open up opportunities for education and civic engagement that many students seek, but cannot otherwise find within the status quo.