The Boston Globe website reports today (February 26, 2012) that Tufts University -- located in Medford, Massachusetts -- is designing an Africana studies major for the first time, and opening a center devoted to the study of race and democracy amid a broader push to integrate diversity into the school's academic fabric.
It is an endeavor long overdue -- according to Tufts students and professors -- coming decades after some peer Boston area institutions began granting similar degrees, and having centers of research.
Students have been pushing for an Africana studies program for two years, saying it was unacceptable for Tufts -- one of the country's top research universities -- to lag behind its peers in having a comprehensive course of study on race, gender, and class.
The Africana studies major could be introduced as early as September 2012, putting Tufts in the company of other Boston-area prestigious schools, such as Harvard, Northeastern, and Brandeis universities.
