Anyone hoping to declare a Latin American Studies major this spring will be out of luck.

The Latin American Studies Steering Committee will not register any new majors because the Curriculum Committee decided not to vote on a proposal for a new LAS curriculum.

The LAS Steering Committee, chaired by History Professor Jim Stewart, has been working for a year and a half to redesign a major that many thought was insufficient. The committee hoped that final approval would come in Feb., in time to put the new major in next year’s course catalogue. The Curriculum Committee, however, has deferred all decisions about curricular reform because the committee is in the process of examining the school’s curriculum as a whole.

According to Stewart, the Curriculum Committee first saw the LAS Committee’s proposal in November. Since then, the two committees have discussed the proposal and it has been revised. Though the Feb. deadline for the course catalogue already passed, Stewart expected that approval of the program would be handed down in the last few weeks. On Tuesday, however, the Curriculum Committee informed him and the rest of the LAS Steering Committee that they were deferring the decision until they could decide whether to integrate “area studies” programs, like LAS, into International Studies, Stewart said. He added that he does not know when or if a decision will be made regarding the proposal.

On Wednesday, the LAS Steering Committee decided not to let anyone declare a Latin American Studies major this year. Current majors will still be able to complete their major plans. Stewart said he will work with sophomores who want to register as Latin American Studies majors to help them individually design majors.

“We were told that the old program was not up to Macalester standards and we should replace it as soon as possible,” Stewart said. “We agree that it is extremely weak and we don’t believe in it.” He said the committee members decided they could not continue a program that “everyone has judged as being academically deficient. We’re in agreement that we have no other choice.”

Stewart strongly criticized the Curriculum Committee’s decision. He said that the CC could easily discuss integrating area studies and International Studies after approving the LAS proposal, because the new LAS program is already closely integrated with International Studies.

“The responsibility for all this extra effort resides with the Curriculum Committee because they’ve given us no new curriculum to teach from,” he said.

Sociology Professor Terry Boychuk, who heads the Curriculum Committee, said he could not comment on the Steering Committee’s decision because he had not had time to process it. In a previous e-mail to The Mac Weekly, however, he said, “The Curriculum Committee recognizes the tremendous effort that went into the Latin American Studies proposal for redesigning the major. The CC also acknowledges the vital contributions of the program to the Macalester curriculum and its enduring importance to the life of the College. The CC will consider the petition as soon as possibleas soon as possible.”

Though Stewart is retiring this spring, he had been asked to stay on as director of the LAS program. He had been considering the option, but now he says that he will not.

The current LAS major requires only four classes with Latin American content. It also requires three semesters of Spanish or Portuguese beyond the language requirement, a semester abroad, and a capstone. Majors then must take six classes in one discipline; these six classes are not supposed to have Latin American content. The design is more like two minors than a major, Stewart said.

“I think it’s a pretty flawed department,” said Jordan Engler ’02, who has a Latin American Studies major with an anthropology focus.

Jordan Pender ’02, another LAS/Anthropology major, said that a lack of classes was a major concern. There is no LAS senior seminar, and the only classes offered in Spanish are literature classes.

History professor Teresita Martinez-Vergne directed the LAS Steering Committee until 2000, when she left to become head of the History Department. Her role, she said, was to “keep the program alive.”

“We were losing people,” she said. “Some people didn’t get tenure. Some people left and they weren’t being replaced with Latin Americanists. We had no courses. … It was a time when there was a great deal of student interest and not a whole lot of institutional support.”

Despite their complaints, Engler and Pender both said they were happy with their major choice. “It allowed me to the freedom to take classes I wanted to take in an area I’m interested in,” Engler said.

Nevertheless, Provost Dan Hornbach and Dean of International Studies Ahmed Samatar told the LAS Steering Committee last year that something needed to be done. Stewart was asked to lead the Steering Committee because of his strong administrative skills.

“He’s been phenomenal,” Economics Professor Raymond Robertson, another committee member, said of Stewart. “I just think he’s amazing. He really gets stuff done. His leadership has made a huge difference in the program.”

International Studies Professor Amparo Menendez-Carrion also played a crucial role in the major’s redesign. The Steering Committee created the Hubert H. Humphrey professorship to bring in a Latin America expert who could help the committee craft the new major. Menendez-Carrion was hired for that position for two years, and her contract was recently extended for a third year.

“She really knows Latin American Studies like very few people in the world do,” Stewart said. Menendez-Carrion has an extensive background in institutional development and curricular design all over the world. She is a comparativist, and her course on comparative politics in Latin America will be one of the required introductory courses for the new major.

Menendez-Carrion had only praise for the committee members, which includes Stewart, Robertson, International Studies Professor David Chioni Moore, Spanish Professor Rogelio Minana, French Professor Joelle Vitiello and International Center Director Michael Monahan.

“For me it’s been a pleasure,” Menendez-Carrion said. “One of the biggest problems is to get people from different disciplines to sit down and to be able to build a consensus. … You couldn’t think of a bunch of more different people. We spent hours discussing, we had confrontations and we worked it through.”

The result is a major plan that provides a more comprehensive look at the region. The new major requires three introductory courses, one in Spanish, one in International Studies, and one in comparative politics. After Menendez-Carrion leaves next year, the comparative politics course will be taught by a new tenure-track Latin Americanist that the Political Science Department is hoping to hire.

The new program requires six electives instead of four, and requires two capstones, one in International Studies and one in Latin American Studies. The additional courses have been made possible by the hiring of Robertson in Economics, the new Political Science hire, and a new course on environmental problems in Latin America, taught by Environmental Studies Professor Al Romero. These professors add to the wealth of expertise brought by Martinez-Vergne, as well as the Spanish Department, and occasional courses offered by other departments.