"During the upheavals of that year, turning this interdisciplinary program into a department became one of the demands," Rosovsky said. "Eventually the Faculty changed its original vote and voted to create a department."

Originally, Rosovsky said, he did not support the Faculty's switch. However, once the decision was made, "all of us involved worked very hard to make it a successful department...

"It went through a very troubled and difficult history...It took a long time for it to become the tremendous success that it is today."

Integration

Today, proponents and detractors of an ethnic studies department seldom debate whether or not the subject should be addressed--the main point of contention is how.

Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures Doris Sommer, co-chair of the ethnic studies committee, says she is concerned that ethnicity be considered a general concern rather than a particular issue. She adds that students need to understand that ethnic studies are embedded within the disciplines that they are already studying.

"Ethnic studies is an integral part of what we do in many disciplines," Sommer says.

"I and several colleagues are looking forward more to seeing the attention to ethnicity...attended to in regular courses than we are in seeing ethnic studies sectioned off as an area independent of regular courses," she adds.