About
Over thirty years ago, Professor Bill Simmons, architect of the AC requirement at UC Berkeley, asked, “What could be so important? He was rhetorically positioning the teaching, learning, and reflections on race in American life at the heart of what would become the AC requirement (the only campus graduation requirement). Today, that question still holds significance and is increasingly the subject of intense debate, from city hall and governor’s mansions to school boards. What is “up” with this debate? How might we consider UC Berkeley’s efforts to support such conversations with the AC Curriculum and other programs on campus? antmen pimentel mendoza and Victoria Robinson will provide some framework for reflection on these questions and also provide exciting updates on the AC curriculum, new courses, and directions for what Chancellor Carol Christ recently stated was “the soul of UC Berkeley - the AC curriculum.”
Interactive Timeline
Thirty years after the first AC courses were offered on campus, this response reverberates powerfully, continuing to invite the UC Berkeley community of staff, students, and faculty into conversations and analyses critical to our complex, diverse worlds. Evermore necessary in the wake of renewed attention to systemic racism and the long-fought battles for racial justice, the curriculum bubbles with the energy of student, faculty, and community ideas and expectations for their AC classrooms. We invite you to explore the longevity and vigor of the curriculum on the new AC Timeline, ‘Tumbling the Ivory Tower: creating the race requirement at UC Berkeley.’