CornellUniversity

Patricia Diaz ][ Since the Willard Straight Hall take over of 1969, ethnic studies at Cornell University has made great studies with the establishment of the Africana Studies department, and programs like the Latino Studies Program, American Indian Studies and Asian American Studies. Such resource centers as the Latino Living Center, Ujamaa Residential College and COSEP/HEOP provide students of color with the resources needed to promote success throughout our communities. Yet, Cornell's statement on diversity that preaches "open doors, open hearts and open minds" is not entirely accurate and does not necessarily reflect the status of students of color at the institution. Africana has not been renovated in 30 years and Latino Studies fails in providing a strong research program since the program itself is not a major. Moreover, Cornell has done little to provide our programs with the money necessary to bring up these areas of study to an acceptable status. Ethnic Studies at Cornell, in short, has a history of under funding and low retention of professors of color, among other things. There is room for improvement and we hope to learn ways of achieving this improvement through this conference.