MEDIA RELEASE

Cal State Northridge to Launch Minor in Queer Studies this Fall

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., April 14, 2008) — The roles gender and sexuality play in how one identifies oneself or the assumptions society makes in categorizing an individual will be at the core of a new minor Cal State Northridge will launch this fall in its College of Humanities.

CSUN’s new Queer Studies Program is an interdisciplinary effort that will offer students an opportunity to explore questions about the normative constructions of sexuality and gender as well as learn about the rights and histories of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender peoples and their allies.

"This is what a university education is all about—asking questions, challenging assumptions, and thinking about the world and our relationship to it," said Elizabeth Say, dean of CSUN’s College of Humanities, where the program will be housed.

"Queer studies focuses on the very basic issues of identity and the assumptions that come with identity, how society classifies you based on your sexuality, your gender. These assumptions go to the very root of how we see or treat people, but they pretty much go unchallenged, unexplored," Say said. "It’s not something that most of us spend much time thinking about. What queer studies does is provide people the tools to explore and consider these issues."

The university will celebrate the minor’s debut with a reception at 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 1, in the Grand Salon of the University Student Union on the east side of the campus off Zelzah Avenue.

"Everyone I run into seems to be very excited and supportive of the new program," said associate professor of gender and women’s studies Sheena Malhotra, coordinator of the queer studies minor. "This will be a space where students can define their program of study looking through the lens of queer theory and queer studies. It’s a very fluid, cutting-edge lens, and for anyone interested in American studies, women’s studies, English, social justice work, community issues and a variety of other areas, having a queer studies theoretical background can give you that edge that makes you stand out."

Say said the university already has a significant amount of curriculum addressing issues of gender and identity and social construction of gender in several departments in her college and others across campus.

"For some time, there has been interest among the faculty in developing this kind of minor. It’s very cutting edge and reflects the state of the study of gender and identity as a discipline," she said. "It seemed like the right time and the right place, so we decided to do it."

The new program will have six courses. Students minoring in queer studies will be required to take three core courses and three electives. The first of the three core courses, "Perspectives in Queer Studies," is a theoretical foundation and introduction to queer studies and will also serve as a stand-alone general education course for interested students outside the minor.

Another core course is "L.A in Transit: Communities, Organizations and Politics." It is designed to provide students with a broad understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersexed and queer communities, organizations and politics in Los Angeles.

Students in the minor will also be required to take three electives, selected in consultation with faculty in the program who can focus on their own interests, such as literature.

The final core course will be a senior capstone class where students will develop individualized research or service-learning projects in queer studies.

"Given that queer studies has long been at the cutting edge of critical scholarship, the minor offers an exciting opportunity for CSUN to become a nationally recognized academic home for students and scholars interested in studying intellectual, cultural and material conditions that have shaped our understandings of sexuality and gender variation," Malhotra said. "It will be a safe place for students and faculty to develop community, to engage in dialogues that generate resistant theories and practices, and to envision new articulations of sexuality and gender."

California State University, Northridge has 35,200 full- and part-time students and offers 64 bachelor’s and 50 master’s degrees as well as 28 teaching credential programs. Founded in 1958, CSUN is among the largest single-campus universities in the nation and the only four-year public university in the San Fernando Valley. The university serves as the intellectual, economic and cultural heart of the Valley and beyond.