IS HOWARD UNIVERSITY “MORE ADVANCED” OR “LESS ADVANCED”?

The evidence appears to support the conclusion that the Howard University upper administration has resolutely refused to climb to the pinnacle of Academe in the field of Hispanic Studies. Indeed, the upper administration has done everything to ensure that when it comes to the field of Hispanic Studies, Howard University remain in the category of what Justice Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court described as the “less advanced” or “slower-paced” institutions of higher learning.

In 1978, with much fanfare, a PhD program in Romance Languages (specifically French and Spanish) was inaugurated at the University. This would have placed the University beyond any doubt in the Justice Scalia category of “more advanced” institutions of higher learning. There is compelling evidence that, over the past three decades, the Howard University upper administration has taken measures to degrade the program in French and Spanish; so much so that the undergraduate major in French has been effectively eliminated and the undergraduate major in Spanish is also well on its way to extinction.