Events

On February 12, a 30-minute Zoom call ended 50 years of struggle. The University of Texas at Austin — home to the first Black Studies PhD program in the American South — announced the consolidation and effective dismantling of its African and African Diaspora Studies department. One week later, the University of Louisville “reallocated” all graduate assistantships in Pan-African Studies. Across Florida, the DeSantis administration has systematically gutted African American Studies at both HBCUs and predominantly white institutions. Then, on February 19th, under pressure from the federal government, 31 universities cut ties with a program designed to increase the PhD pipeline for students of color — eliminating one of the most effective pathways for diversifying the academy.

Hosted and moderaed by Black Study(ies) at Columbia:

• Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies
• Institute for Research in African American Studies
• Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Society, and Culture

Panelists include:

• Edmund T. (Ted) Gordon 
  Founding Chair Emeritus, AADS, University of Texas at Austin
• Ashanté M. Reese
  Associate Professor, AADS, University of Texas at Austin
• Andrea J. Queeley
  Associate Professor, Florida International University
• Michael Brandon McCormack
  Chair, Pan-African Studies, University of Louisville