The College Fix

OPINION: Few students have an interest in the African American studies department. Trump and Republicans must be to blame, the professors believe

Even though President Donald Trump has thousands of luxury apartments and hotel rooms to choose from, he continues to be wealthy because he lives rent free in the minds of liberals.

Take the African American studies department at Syracuse University. Though it has alleged underfunding and problems for years, President Trump is partially to blame.

The Daily Orange reported:

Horace Campbell, a professor of political science and AAS, said he wonders whether SU is following the lead of universities in the South and participating in what he called the “anti-woke movement.” Republican politicians have said in recent years that curriculum critical of U.S. racial history “significantly lacks educational value.”

“Trump and the MAGA don’t want African American Studies,” he said.

Campbell previously compared the department’s lack of a chair to books being “banned.”

It is unclear what Trump has to do with a private university in New York – or the department’s ongoing problems.

For example, the department demanded in 2020 that Syracuse hire “12 part-time instructors” and three teaching assistants. The university should also do more to address “structural racism,” according to The Daily Orange’s account.

However, Pan African Studies graduate student Uchenna Ezejiofor told the student newspaper that adjuncts are “exploited.”

“But adjuncts don’t get paid well. They’re actually very, very exploited in the academic system — they’re not paid well, they don’t have the same benefits as a full professor, they don’t get to contribute to the literature in the same way,” she said, commenting on how many current classes are taught by adjuncts.

Another Pan African Studies graduate student, Darla Hobbs, blamed the Heritage Foundation’s policy handbook called Project 2025.

“We are fighting against something way bigger than us, with Project 2025, we don’t know what our future holds for us as the AAS department,” Hobbs said.

MORE: Ohio law schools end race-based programs after think tank probe

But Trump and Project 2025 have never prevented a Syracuse student from enrolling in an African American studies course.

As of March 2024, there were just 12 undergrad majors, eight minors, and 14 graduate students in the program, according to a university spokesperson.

There are 10 listed full professors currently on the program’s website. This works out to about one professor for every three students, in addition to any adjuncts.

That is an incredibly good ratio, and probably why an undergrad called the department “tight knit.”

Trump didn’t force students not to enroll in the niche program and he didn’t force the department to not hire a chair.

Niche black studies and other programs generally suffer from low enrollment, probably because people want to go to school to learn something of value in the workplace.

On the other hand, the success of liberals in getting DEI injected into a variety of coursework may also undermine the demand for a more politically-focused major on African-American studies.

For example, Syracuse offers more than 100 race-focused courses in different majors, including a geography course on “race and space,” and a philosophy course on “race and identities.”

That probably is not good (we could do without “critical whiteness studies), but insomuch as the African-American studies department wants a greater emphasis on racial issues, they should be glad that Syracuse offers numerous courses across different disciplines on this subject.

MORE: Syracuse course examines Trump as ‘celebrity in chief’

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