Debbie Phillips

Debbie Phillips is a Ohio state politician.

Ethnic studies

In October 1986 ASSU representatives of the Peoples Platform, a coalition of minority and progressive student organizations at Stanford, launched a campaign to expand undergraduate ethnic studies and to establish a community service board within the ASSU. According to ASSU senator Ben Garcia, who is setting up a task force on ethnic studies, the University is offering only two courses on Chicano studies this quarter and nothing in Asian American and Native American studies. Stanford claims to educate its students for their future roles of leadership, Garcia said. However, the University's method of education is "antithetical to its ideals— It does not teach people how to be leaders in our diverse, multicultural society." A Chicano studies department, for example, could offer courses analyzing the labor struggles of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers union, Garcia said.

Carolyn Lougee, dean of Undergraduate Studies, agrees that the programs in ethnic studies need to expand. "I don't think we do nearly as good a job as we can in multi-cultural education. That is what the Western Culture issue is about," she said. Lougee urged, however, that critics of Stanford's course offerings not overlook the current accomplishments of the ethnic studies program. While Stanford may not have many courses in ethnic studies, the classes it does offer are of high quality, Lougee said.

Currently, it would also be hard for the University to establish an Native American studies program since it does not have any professors in the field on its faculty. "We really feel the need for an ethnic studies program," said Debbie Phillips, former council co-chair of the Stanford American Indian Organization. American Indians study in an educational system that essentially ignores their historical contributions, and a program focussing on minorities would bring attention to these cultures, she said.

Another project, a community service board, is essential to the minority community and to other service organizations, according to ASSU senator Felix Cuevas. The constitution of the Peoples Platform states that community service "is particularly important for students who come from ethnic backgrounds, for these disadvantaged communities are not-so-far removed from our reality." Rudy Fuentes, a member of the ASSU Council of Presidents, said the Program Board does not satisfy the funding needs of the University's extracurricular programs. While the Program Board funds the cultural, social and political programs that benefit the Stanford community, it does not cover the full financial demands of community service organizations, he said.

The community service board, however, would focus solely upon community service-oriented projects in which the people directly benefitting from the programs are not necessarily Stanford students, Fuentes added. According to Megan Sweezey, staff coordinator for the Stanford Volunteer Network (SVN), there has been in the past a myth circulating through the ASSU that student groups located in Owen House get funding from the President's Office.

Ohio Progressive Caucus

In 2012 State Representatives and Ohio Progressive Caucus members Debbie Phillips and Tracy Heard speak at the Ohio House Democratic Caucus legislative priorities press conference.

References

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