Yale’s Asian American Student Alliance protests the administrative lack of suppor t for the ER&M program. Photo courtesy of Willow Sylvester, Yale Daily News
On March 29, 13 tenured Yale professors announced that they would be withdrawing from Yale University’s Ethnicity, Race, and Migration (ER&M) Program to protest the administration’s lack of dedication and resources to the program. The Yale ER&M Program focuses on how various ethnic, cultural, and racial dynamics have shaped and defined society. The program includes a total of 87 declared ER&M majors who may no longer be able to continue their studies within the program due to the withdrawals.
Daniel Martinez HoSang was among the 13 professors who withdrew from the program. When he came to Yale in 2017, Prof. HoSang was under the impression that he would have a dual appointment to the ER&M program and the American Studies department. He soon learned he was wrong and that his work with ER&M was not officially recognized by the university. He told the New Haven Register that the program “has essentially been sustained by voluntary labor for the past 20 years.”
The former ER&M Chair, Alicia Camacho, has made similar remarks. According to Insider Higher Ed, she stated, “Even having this group of 13 tenured faculty contributing to ER&M, our students don’t have a full set of courses in this program. We are not meeting the needs of majors because our faculty are overtaxed and performing labor across the university, principally because there is a shortage of people with our expertise and faculty of color.”
Stephen Pitti, a professor of history and American studies, echoed Prof. Camacho’s comments when he said to Inside Higher Ed, “The program has lost literally dozens of contributing faculty over the last 20 years, faculty who volunteered their labor to the program but did not see their efforts rewarded by the university.”
Many Yale students have organized demonstrations to show their support for the ER&M professors. Baji Tumendemberel ’18, a Yale ER&M student, participated in the demonstrations. According to Tumendemberel, “Students are protesting the university’s repeated failures to appoint new faculty to the ER&M program, giving existing faculty tenure, recognized academic work in the field, and support the existence of the program in general.” He also voiced concerns that current students in the ER&M program may not be able to major in the program due to the recent withdrawals and the university’s lack of support.
Many of the protesting students intend to continue the protests until the Yale administration responds to the needs of the program. Tumendemberel said, “Students have held rallies on Cross Campus and have distributed flyers related to the cause. Numerous social media efforts have also been made.” Students have also posted signs around campus with phrases like “$50 million for what what?” referencing the $50 million that the university pledged toward faculty diversification.
These demonstrations have specifically targeted Yale President Peter Salovey, urging him to commit more resources towards the ER&M program. According to WNPR, President Salovey responded to both the professors’ withdrawal as well as the student demonstrations with a statement in which he said, “We greatly value the work of our faculty colleagues in ER&M, and we regret their decision to withdraw from it, and in this manner.” He continued, “Yale will make sure that affected students are given the resources and support they need, and we remain hopeful that an agreement can be reached that works well for everyone.”
