NORMAN, Okla. — Administrators at the University of Oklahoma (OU) have confirmed that there are no plans to close the Clara Luper Department of African and African American Studies (CLAAS) – though the 40-year-old program is currently undergoing a review.
“The University of Oklahoma is not closing the Clara Luper Department of African and African American Studies or the Schusterman Center’s Judaic and Israel Studies or their programs,” Senior Vice President and Provost André-Denis Wright wrote in a statement provided to the university’s newspaper, the OU Daily.
“Review of both degree programs was triggered by a routine, multi-step evaluation of the university’s 300+ programs conducted under State Regents provisions,” Wright wrote.
Rumors that the department faced closure began to circulate after Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a new law in May banning the use of state funds for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) jobs, activities or programs at Oklahoma college and university campuses. Oklahoma lawmakers, claiming that DEI efforts discriminate against white students, wrote the new law to prevents higher education institutions from supporting any positions, departments or programs, “to the extent they grant preferential treatment based on one person’s particular race, color, ethnicity or national origin over another’s.” Programs statewide that have a title that specifies a particular race have come under increased scrutiny.
“The Clara Luper Department of African & African American Studies at the University of Oklahoma (AFAM) is notable as the first degree-granting department of its kind in Oklahoma,” reads OU’s description of the program on its website. “For over forty years, AFAM courses have offered students the opportunity to learn, discuss, and research histories, cultures, literatures, methods, data, and intellectual debates relevant to the discipline. The department is interdisciplinary with faculty representing the Arts, Humanities, Sciences, and Social Sciences. Students majoring in AFAM learn from award-winning professors who are researchers and scholars active in their respective fields.
“In the spirit of our namesake, Clara Luper, AFAM has a community-engaged mission. All AFAM majors enroll in a Senior Capstone course with an embedded internship component. Through our scholarship, teaching, and service we aim to facilitate dialogue between those on campus and in the community via education and civic engagement. We sponsor and co-sponsor campus events, partner with local community organizations on initiatives, and faculty have received grant funding for community-based research,” the description reads.
The Clara Luper Legacy Committee – chaired by the honored civil rights activist’s daughter, Marilyn Luper-Hildreth – sent OU President Joseph Harroz, Jr. a letter encouraging the university not to abandon CLAAS.
“The Department has performed critical and valuable work, teaching students about important events in Black history and culture that might otherwise be forgotten,” reads the letter sent to Harroz. “We – those who marched, sat with, learned from, and were raised by Clara Luper – take great pride in the deeply valuable courses and offerings that your university provides through the CLAAS Department…
“Eliminating the CLAAS Department will serve to dishonor the legacy of a woman who was the first African American admitted to the graduate History Department at OU and to receive her master’s degree there,” the letter continues. “Having this department is a must.”
According to reporting by the OU Daily, over the past decade enrollment in the program has fallen. In the 2015-16 academic year, only nine bachelor’s degrees were awarded to students enrolled in CLAAS; that number fell to two for the 2020-21 academic year and three during the 2024-25 academic year.
Greg Graham, chair of OU’s African and African American Studies Department, wrote in a statement to the OU Daily that the Clara Luper Department of African and African American Studies remains committed to its mission education students.
“We are proud to continue the legacy of Clara Luper and honor her positive impact on education and civic engagement,” Graham wrote. “For over forty years, we have positively impacted students, alumni, and the wider region, and we plan to continue our educational mission.”
OU Regent Rick Nagel told OU Daily that the department would not close. He said closing the program would require consideration from the OU Board of Regents, which would not be approved.
“People don’t cancel programs unless it comes before the (Board of Regents). That has not come before the board,” Nagel said. “I can never speak for the whole board, but that would be a hard thing to get through. … That’s not something we’re (going to) do.”
