Teach-In Examines Ethnic Studies Controversy

Catherine Denial with students in Historian's Workshop

-- Reporting by Rana Tahir '13, photography by Peter Bailley

For one day in February, students in Knox College's Historian's Workshop course turned their attention from their individual research projects to a current controversy -- Arizona's ban on Mexican-American Studies classes as they were being taught in Tucson.

Assistant Professor of History Catherine Denial and the students in the course used the methods of the course to conduct a historical analysis on the recent events in Arizona, where state officials decided that the Mexican-American classes unlawfully "advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."

The class concluded by building a timeline of events leading up to the decision, which has subsequently been appealed in court.

More photos from the "teach-in" in the Historian's Workshop.