A Third University is Possible

K. Wayne Yang, PhD | Professor, Ethnic Studies and Provost of John Muir College, UC San Diego

Dr. Yang’s research and teaching interests focus on how our conception and experience of learning are shaped by settler colonialism. His recent book, A Third University Is Possible (read online version), explores the historical legacy of the Morrill Land Act of 1862, by which acres of Indigenous lands were taken by governments in Union states to raise funds for new universities to educate settlers in agriculture and science. At USD, how can we hold ourselves accountable beyond land acknowledgements to the Kumeyaay people? He writes, "Within the colonizing university also exists a decolonizing education. A Third University is a practical workplace. We must go through the critique to get to the work."