Students frustrated with lack of support in minority interdisciplinary minors

By Maleigh Crespo macrespo@loyno.edu

Recent Loyola graduate Brendan Heffernan said he was drawn to Loyola for its diverse course o erings and liberal arts education. However, looking back on his college career, he said the humanities were underserved, and “a little disappointing.”

He ernan wanted to pursue an interdisciplinary minor in African-American studies, but said it was too di cult due to the lack of course o erings.

Course o erings are planned and scheduled by departments, not the di- dissatis ed with what the minor o ered. So, she settled on only taking a few classes within the minor instead.

Toney said the discrepancies in support among interdisciplinary minors shows where the university’s priorities lie.

“ e [African-American studies] minor deserves just as much attention, care, prioritization, funding, professors, and education as any other minor program at Loyola,” she said. “It’s just as signi cant and important because we need students to have a diverse learning experience in the classroom.” ere are students who are invested best we can,” she said.

Program directors don’t have much pull, and interdisciplinary studies minors rely heavily on Loyola Core and other courses that are o ered regularly, Clark said.

Clark said she has never been able to o er many courses that t the medieval studies minor because courses required for majors have been needed.

“It's easy to say that more money would solve everything, but it's not that simple, and it's not going to happen,” she said. “In the end, those of us who are part of interdisciplinary programs continue to o er a range of courses that will t all our programs and provide student choice and exibility as best we can with what we've got because we believe those connections across disciplinary boundaries makes our own work, and our students' experience, richer.” e most e ective directors of interdisciplinary minors collaborate with departments to ensure that there are enough courses for the students in their programs, Hoormann said.

She also said the women’s studies program, which is o ering eight courses in the fall, is a great example.

Still, Tolliver believes the women’s studies program has room for improvement.

“ ere's gender studies departments across the country that are powerful. ey reach across campus, they connect students, and I feel like we're trying to get there,” she said. “We have ideas and plans, but they haven't actually been implemented, so they aren’t attracting as many students or incoming students as they can be. But I think that if they strengthen the department, they'll denitely strengthen the diverse people who want to come here.”

Hoormann said diversity, equity, and inclusion are central values of the College of Arts and Sciences and Loyola University as a whole, and both the college and the university have made great e orts to recruit and retain more faculty of color.

“We can have a commitment to Jesuit values, equity, and inclusion, but it’s not helpful if it’s only displayed on a website, if it’s not implemented in proper faculty, proper courses,” Toney said.