As an organization dedicated to representing Cornell’s South Asian community, the South Asian Council finds the lack of South Asian courses and faculty at Cornell deeply concerning, reflecting a severe lapse in the University’s commitment to the principle of “any person, any study.” In the past five years, many faculty members teaching topics relevant to South Asia have either taken extended sabbaticals or have left Cornell due to fellowship opportunities and retirement. This has resulted in a decline in South Asian course offerings, leaving Cornell’s sizable South Asian population underrepresented in the curriculum of departments/programs such as Asian Studies, Asian American Studies, Government, History and Comparative Literature. SAC has engaged in multiple, ongoing conversations with professors regarding this issue. But when we elevate the conversation to the administrative level, we’re met with red tape and dismissal.
We decided to bring our concerns up to faculty members. Last semester, we met with Asian and Asian American Studies Professors Chiara Formichi, Sofia Villenas, Viranjini Munasinghe and Derek Chang to learn more. We expressed how the shortage of South-Asian-focused courses has made it difficult for students to pursue the South Asian Studies minor. The minor is notably difficult for non-humanities students to earn because of the lack of cross-listing or open options for its required courses. The professors echoed our sentiments by sharing anecdotes of how they have witnessed the South-Asia-focused faculty dwindle throughout their decades-long careers at Cornell. Our meetings with these faculty members confirmed that this issue was not insular within SAC and we had clear faculty backing.
We sat down with Daniel Bass, the program manager of the South Asia Program, to get faculty insight on our problem. SAP, though not a full-fledged academic department, “serves as an interdisciplinary hub for courses, programs, and events relevant to South Asia and the diaspora.” Dr. Bass confirmed our concerns about the lack of South-Asia-specific coursework and faculty with alarming statistics. Of the 49 faculty affiliated with the program, 14 are emeritus or retired. Another 18 are associate professors whose main focus lies outside the subcontinent. Bass also explained that the hiring process for new faculty is not always transparent nor linear for those outside the department or college doing the hiring. Moreover, since 2009, only 60 students have graduated with a minor in South Asian Studies, and in 2024 there were zero undergraduates graduating with this honor. It is not that there is no interest in the minor, but rather that the structural barriers to earning it are often too high.
Our meeting with Dr. Bass prepared us for our conversation with Patrizia McBride, a Senior Associate Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, the following day. We opened the meeting by explaining our desire for more South-Asia-specific coursework and faculty. Dean McBride was initially receptive, taking notes and nodding along; however, as the meeting progressed, we experienced Cornell’s administrative bureaucracy at work. Although it is ultimately Dean Peter Loewen’s decision to approve a new faculty line, McBride deflected, saying we needed to focus on “department level conversations.” When we lamented the deficit of South Asian coursework, she invoked the example of Kaushik Basu from the Department of Economics. While Professor Basu is an incredible economist, we are asking for more than just South Asian faces. We want South Asian stories to be at the forefront of our coursework. The five students who attended that meeting left disappointed at how unproductive it was. When students take the time to meet with an administrator, we expect to be told more than “talk to someone else.”
The combination of clear student interest in South-Asian-related courses and a continual lack of University support is a fundamental failure on the part of the College of Arts & Sciences administration. The founding principle of “any person, any study” remains unfulfilled as long as student’s academic passions and cultural backgrounds are not reflected in course offerings, faculty appointments and degree programs. This institution profits off of the intellect and tuition of South Asian students, but the Arts & Sciences curriculum does not reflect our contributions. Simply having a café named after Amit Bhatia or the Tata Innovation Center at Cornell Tech is not enough.
We call on the College of Arts & Sciences administration to actualize Ezra Cornell’s promise and:
- Increase transparency in faculty hiring practices in all A&S departments via publishing when vacancies open searches begin;
- Incorporate more South Asian perspectives into overview courses about Asian-American experiences
- Reformulate the South Asian Studies minor to be more inclusive and cross list relevant coursework;
- And discuss opportunities for more South Asian faculty with the Office of Faculty Diversity and Development.
These initiatives are long overdue, especially for an institution that prides itself on providing students with exploration beyond boundaries. Diversifying South-Asia-specific faculty is a chance for Cornell to continue a long tradition of educational innovation (as seen with the development of programs like Africana Studies or China Asia Pacific Studies), setting the groundwork for future students to expand their educational foundation and to support continued academic excellence at the faculty level.
Ameya Kamani is third year in the College of Arts and Sciences and the advocacy chair of the South Asian Council at Cornell. He writes on behalf of the whole organization and can be reached at [email protected]. Kyra Menon, Faaria Zubair and Thej Khanna contributed to this piece.
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