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Ethnic Studies at BGSU Marks 50 Years
By Ravi Perry, PhD
Guest Column
2020 marks the 50th year of Ethnic Studies at
Bowling Green State University. (BGSU). After student
protest, the tragedy at Kent State and pressure from the
community, BGSU established a committee chaired by John
Scott, PhD, to seek a director of a newly formed Ethnic
Studies Center.
Scott recommended that my dad, Robert L. Perry, PhD, be
hired for the job. A 1959 and 1965 BGSU BA and MA graduate,
Dad, in July 1970, was a PhD candidate in the Department of
Sociology at Wayne State University and was teaching part
time at the Detroit Institute of Technology. Without an
interview, Dad was hired. Everyone, including Dad, initially
thought the appointment would last a couple of years.
Students made sure that did not happen. Throughout the
1970s, BGSU became the region’s ground zero for the study
and discussion of race and ethnic issues in America. What
was first a center with no budget, Dad, John Scott and
others worked passionately, creatively, and with intention
to turn that Center into an academic program that offered
students courses for credit toward their degrees.
While students demanded a Black Studies curriculum, Ethnic
Studies was a compromise at BGSU as it was at the University
of California at Berkeley and San Francisco State University
which each were the first to establish ethnic studies in the
country just two and three years before BGSU.
Ethnic Studies is the
interdisciplinary study of race, ethnicity and indigeneity with
a focus on the experiences and perspectives of people of
color within and beyond the United States.
By 1978, the ethnic studies program at BGSU became its own
academic department, the first in Ohio and among the top
five in the world. Department status is huge in higher
education because that most often means you have an
undergraduate major and you can hire faculty members and
tenure them within the department. This helps to control
the time faculty have with students and to the department,
strengthening it for years to come.
As a result, Ethnic Studies at BGSU continues today and now
features dynamic faculty producing significant scholarship
on many of the contemporary issues facing our global world
today.
This past month of July marked 50 years of this
accomplishment for BGSU and I emailed the president of the
university to inquire about their planned activities.
Initially I was concerned that we as a family had not heard
of any planned activities commemorating the 50th
anniversary.
To this day, what my Dad started, remains the ONLY singular
focus (i.e. not merged or altered) Department of Ethnic
Studies east of the Mississippi River. Daddy created the
FIRST EVER university-wide requirement to take a class on
race and ethnicity in the country. He invited world-renowned
scholars, including having hosted James Baldwin on campus,
throughout northwest Ohio and who for a time lived in our
Westmoreland home between 1978-1981.
These are all significant events our family is glad to help
BGSU celebrate and that is what precipitated my email to the
administration in mid-July. After not receiving a reply by
the end of the month, I was miffed. So, I did what most
millennials do, I went to social media. I made this
decision – Dad had no idea - because I love my Daddy and I
am so proud of him each and every day.
Gratefully, the university’s Chief Diversity and Belonging
Officer (CDBO) graciously responded to me forthwith and that
was followed up by a very warm note from President Rogers.
Both have expressed a steadfast commitment to recognizing
the historic achievement. As of this writing, I understand
the provost at BGSU, a brilliant Black scholar, is working
with the president, the CDBO, and department chair to
determine future planning.
In my letter to President Rogers, I recommended:
1). President Rogers engage in a public dialogue with my Dad
about where BGSU was in 1970 and where we are today as a
society.
2). BGSU can interview current Ethnic Studies faculty and
student majors in a digital project throughout the upcoming
academic year and discuss race and ethnic issues in our
world online
3). BGSU can establish a 50th Commemoration Committee in the
Office of the President - and include my Dad and Dr. John
Scott as honorary co-chairs.
4). Ethnic Studies at BGSU needs to have a graduate program.
There is not one PhD in Ethnic Studies at any school east of
the Mississippi - and obviously that includes the state of
Ohio - so the need is there.
5). Funds can be raised to endow two professorships. One
should be named for my Dad, the "Robert L. Perry
Distinguished Professor of Ethnic Studies" ought to be a
senior Full Professor social science scholar in the
Department of Ethnic Studies whose work engages improving
the lived conditions of marginalized people. The same should
be created in honor of Dr. John Scott, and that scholar
ought to be an expert in cultural arts, theatre and
performance. We should also honor the first woman department
chair.
6). BGSU can host the next annual meeting of the Association
for Ethnic Studies, bringing international scholars to NW
Ohio once again
7). BGSU can convene an international conference on James
Baldwin - one that is not narrowly focused on his
literature, but that also engages with his activism and his
life while working at BGSU. In 1978-1981, BGSU was the first
place Baldwin went to - the first school he ever taught at
after his self-exile to France after the civil rights
movement.
8). I recommend BGSU re-name Shatzel Hall, “Perry Hall” to
honor the achievements that my Dad and his colleagues
accomplished together. Built originally in 1924 as a women’s
residence hall, Shatzel Hall is named after J. E. Shatzel, a
relatively obscure white man that was a member of the Board
of Trustees from 1914 to 1924. Shatzel gave 10 years of
service to BGSU and has had a building named after him for
96 years. Dad gave 27 years of service and there’s nothing
to date that honors his years of dedication and the success
of Ethnic Studies.
This is not about my Dad. This is not about celebrating the
past. This is for current BGSU students and the generations
that will follow and is important because of what it says
about the perseverance of ethnic studies as a field of
academic study developed out of the spirit of student
activism - and now has lasted 50 years.
Ethnic Studies Matters! Especially in Ohio and particularly
at a rural, predominantly white university like BGSU.
We are interested in the
opportunity the 50th year of ethnic studies at BGSU brings
to sustain its future. The most appropriate honor begins
with a commitment to endowed sustainability. Together we
can ensure generations of Falcons will come to know the
diverse histories, activisms, and migration patterns that
make up the study of ethnic studies (and related fields).
The Perry Family loves BGSU and always will.
My Dad devoted decades of his life to that institution in
ways that changed it forever.
Dad first got to BGSU in 1957, then 25 years of age and
fresh out of the military. He earned two degrees. Mom (LaRouth
Perry) earned two degrees. And my brother earned his B.A.
My sister and I learned how to swim there; she went on to be
a standout swimmer at St. Ursula and captain of the nation’s
only HBCU sailing team while in college at Hampton.
I learned how to swim at the recreation center and I ran
cross country there during summer training camps. Mom also
taught part time at BGSU. My siblings and I literally grew
up on BG's campus. Our memories are fond.
It is important that we
sustain the ethnic studies legacy started by my Dad and
colleagues in July 1970 at BGSU. Sustainability requires
institutional commitment. We hope you can join us in this
effort to sustain ethnic studies at BGSU.
Ravi K. Perry, a native of Toledo, is Professor and Chair of
the Department of Political Science at Howard University.
Perry is former president of the Association for Ethnic
Studies. Forever loving his hometown, Perry currently
resides in Washington, D.C.
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