WHY DID HOWARD UNIVERSITY ELIMINATE ITS CLASSICS DEPARTMENT?

Howard University in Washington, D.C., was the nation's only historically black university with a classics department, and the school provoked criticism in April 2021 when it was reported that school officials had decided to eliminate the department, which did not offer a major. Despite efforts to save the department, it was eliminated and the study of classic works of Greek, Latin and Anglo antiquity was absorbed by other departments. The move was no doubt a part of an ongoing effort to replace what some academicians consider “dead” history with thinkers of more contemporary appeal, such as minority writers. Many, including black scholars such as Cornel West, didn’t agree with the decision. (West called it a “spiritual catastrophe.”)

Anika Prather, an adjunct professor in the department, noted that Frederick Douglass, while still enslaved at age 12, was able to read Cicero and other ancient texts. "He said when he would read them, he didn't feel like he was a slave. He didn't feel less than human. He didn't feel like he should be oppressed. Instead, his mind was liberated.” She emphasized that the classics are part of the bedrock of contemporary American society and "that to remove [them], we remove a piece of ourselves."

IS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION DEAD?

Affirmative action will likely meet its demise in the near future. The writing is on the wall. The cases against affirmative action at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill plus a conservative-led Supreme Court eager to undo progressive laws are a formula for its end.

On Oct. 31, 2022, the justices began hearing cases involving the admissions practices of the two universities, which allow admissions officers to consider applicants’ race to foster diversity. The Court’s ruling, which won’t be issued until summer 2023 at the earliest, could conceivably end affirmative action, but not right away. Colleges and universities would likely be given a five-year grace period, to 2028, to eliminate affirmative action. Nevertheless, a decision banning affirmative action would be catastrophic for the presence of marginalized racial groups on the nation’s leading campuses.