Decolonizing the university curriculum

Abstract

The authors use simple qualitative text analysis to examine the deidentified faculty responses to the University of North Carolina at Pembroke (UNCP) Indigenous Cultures and Communities (ICC) proposed graduation requirement. The term Indigenous people is used as defined by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Indigenous Cultures and Communities requirement is historically unprecedented. It calls for at least one course taken prior to each student's graduation from the University. To the authors' knowledge, the faculty comments to the proposal have not been used in any prior publication. The ICC proposal was submitted to the faculty for review and comment in the Spring of 2020. It was sent back to the curriculum committee for rewriting and eventually passed the Faculty Senate a year later. UNCP is the only historically American Indian campus in the UNCP system. Reflecting national trends, the majority of UNCP faculty and students are women. At the time the ICC was passed, women also constituted a majority in administrative positions, but have lost their majority as of 2021.