Petition to Reverse the Decision to Suspend Admissions to IDS

PETITION TO REVERSE THE DECISION TO SUSPEND ADMISSIONS TO IDS
The goal is nothing less than the refashioning of our world into one in which no one starves, drinks impure water, lives in fear of the powerful and violent, or dies ill and unattended. - Paul Farmer

It is our resounding commitment to this goal that has brought us to International Development Studies (IDS) at UCLA. We are a dedicated, passionate and erudite group of students that cares deeply about resolving global inequality through the elimination of poverty.

The recent review of the IDS program is of utmost concern for students in the major, and we respectfully submit our concerns below to the university. As students who are passionate and diligent scholars, we feel that our input would have helped tremendously during the review and would have appreciated wider solicitation of our perspectives on the strengths of the major. As astute observers of the institutionalized power in the university and beyond, we are puzzled by the divergence in the assessments made by the external and internal reviewers. As individuals who have worked hard to fortify an in-depth knowledge base, we are disappointed that faculty so far removed from our field of study (i.e. a professor of English and a professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering) were assigned the program review and we are astounded by the drastic conclusions they have reached. With all due respect, it is comforting that individuals with such a mis-match of skills have not been tasked with eliminating poverty in the Global South. We cringe to think of the possibility that hurried, superficial and un-objective assessments often guide policies that are imposed on powerless groups, contrary to the ethics and values upheld by the university.

We put forward the following counterpoints (in bold) to key issues and recommendations (in italics) by the internal review team:

1. Not enough ladder track faculty support for core IDS courses therefore, suspend future admissions
We have compiled a list showing a substantial presence of ladder track faculty in the major, and those who are not ladder track faculty are highly capable and credentialed professionals in the field of development (see Appendix A)
2. The Faculty Advisory Committee is out of touch with the realities facing IDS therefore, suspend future admissions
We propose the Faculty Advisory Committee should be reconstituted, and include committed and knowledgeable ladder and non-ladder track faculty in order to facilitate a constructive dialogue on the major (see Appendix B)
3. IDS lacks a coherent canon of knowledge and scholarship therefore suspend future admissions
We have compiled a preliminary bibliography that provides solid evidence of the body of knowledge on development, contrary to the rather unfounded opinions of the internal reviewers (another reason why we are baffled that faculty with no specialized knowledge of our field were selected for the review). The syllabi in the IDS program shows that the coursework has well-incorporated the canon of knowledge, although we agree that some courses need to be tailored to current theoretical advances and practitioner knowledge of international development (see Appendix C)
4. Strong interest in the program has contributed to an unmanageable number of majors therefore, suspend future admissions
We call your attention to the fact that the high number of students in the major is a reflection of our commitment to current issues of concern globally, particularly in under-served and developing societies a trend that the university should encourage, not discourage by shutting down a program of study that will make us highly competitive in the job market today (see Appendix D)
5. The program lacks rigorous economic and statistical underpinnings essential for the pursuit of an M.A./Ph.D in development studies - therefore, suspend future admissions
Our own efforts to review the offerings of leading M.A./Ph.D programs in international development here in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world (i.e. Institute for Development Studies, U.K., Christian Anderson school, Norway) shows that the IDS curriculum at UCLA is very much in-line with and proportionate to those institutions' inclusion of and emphasis on economics and statistics. We further feel that this is yet another indication of the inadequate understanding on the part of the internal review team of current approaches to international development (see Appendix E).

In sum, we are astounded that for every major "issue" raised by the internal review team, the one and only solution was "suspend future admissions" - suggestive of a pre-engineered remedy about which we are concerned and suspicious (See Appendix F). We feel that the decision to proceed with suspending admission has been made hastily, without sufficient and in-depth understanding of development in theory and practice and is disproportionate to the scale of the problems that were cited. Furthermore, we feel that many of the critiques of the program do not hold against empirical evidence. We urge the university to reconsider its decision and make it possible for outstanding students at UCLA to access IDS offerings, albeit with minor interventions that could be easily made through the leadership demonstrated by Prof. Mike Lofchie as current Chair, and his predecessor, Prof. Michael Ross as well as select current faculty who would assuredly make a vital contribution in this regard.

Your signature on this petition indicates not only your support for the ongoing strengthening and refashioning of IDS to meet the dynamic changes facing us as global citizens, but also your commitment to seeing that IDS as a program be given a fair, just and timely review that seeks real solutions rather than a glossed-over attempt to disable the major. Student ID # necessary.