Students in African-American Studies say their program is being neglected.
Carolyn Gonzales, University spokeswoman, said students have approached deans at the College of Arts and Sciences with concerns about the future of the program.
Student Tim Green IV said students are upset that an interim director had not yet been appointed after the program's director, Finnie Coleman, was made acting dean of University Studies in January.
They are also unhappy with changes made to the program curriculum during Coleman's tenure, Green said.
Gonzales said Brenda Claiborne, dean of the college of Arts and Sciences, is scheduled to meet with some of the students today.
"She wants to know what their concerns are," she said.
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Claiborne declined to comment.
Coleman, who has been director of the program for two years, was appointed to dean of University Studies after Peter White stepped down in November 2007.
Coleman is heading African-American Studies and University College while the College of Arts and Sciences looks for an interim director to lead the program.
Coleman said the changes made to African-American Studies were in the best interest of the students. None of the former curriculum courses have been struck from the program, he said.
"All it does is offer our students more options - global options as well as the options that they've always had," he said. "This is a strengthening of the program, not an exchanging of it for something less."
Green said that under Coleman's direction, the program's focus changed from the history of African-Americans in the U.S. to a global history of African-American societies.
"This is the very opposite of what black studies was supposed to be doing," he said. "The purpose of black studies was to research and teach black history and to educate people on the history of the black experience in America. We're not saying the rest of the world or the rest of the history is not important, but it's just not the focus of black studies."
Coleman said that if students have a problem with the program, they should contact him.
"I'm not some ogre that's unapproachable," he said. "The thing is, in order for them to approach me, it would take away the real issue from them, because all their questions would be answered, and that's not really what they want."
Green said finding an interim director was just as important to the students as reforming the African-American Studies program.
"The College of Arts and Sciences has not told us who is going to be the interim director of black studies or what's going on," Green said. "So, our studies program has just been kind of put on ice. We've just been in kind of a limbo."
Gonzales said choosing an interim dean to take over for Coleman has not been easy.
"Arts and Sciences is the largest college on campus," she said. "It has the largest faculty, and it educates the largest students on campus, and that is a big machine to move, and it does have its own issues being such a large operation. And they are making sure that they are not making any hasty decisions."
Green said he is tired of African-American Studies being neglected.
"It obviously shows there's no concern or lack of concern and lack of value of this program," he said. "Because in any other program, someone would have been in right away."
