In 1974, a group of UNC faculty members and students proposed the creation of an East Asian Studies Curriculum that would offer courses and the opportunity for students to major in East Asian Studies. The proposed offerings included courses on the languages, history, and cultures of China and Japan. The proposal was approved and the curriculum was offered by the 1978-1979 school year. From the very beginning of the program, student demand for language instruction exceeded the staff available to teach these courses. In the second curriculum proposal, the committee noted, “Our most pressing need is to hire two additional language specialists, one in Chinese and one in Japanese, to expand our offerings in the two languages and in the literatures of East Asia.” ("Bachelor of Arts", 1975) By 1979, Professor Miles Fletcher, Chairman of the East Asian Studies Curriculum (EAST), wrote to Professor Robert Howren, Chair of the Department of Linguistics and Non-Western Languages, “rais[ing] the possibility of offering a second-year Japanese language course, because several students in the first-year class have indicated that they want to continue their study of Japanese language.”
By the fall of 1987, the curriculum included courses in several departments, including Anthropology, Geography, History, Political Science, and Religious Studies. Most of these courses concerned either China or Japan, though a handful of courses also considered Southeast Asia. Language courses were still confined to Chinese and Japanese with approximately 75 students enrolled in each language every year. (Cell to Birrell, 1987) EAST also had several students studying these languages abroad, though they suspended their partnership with the Foreign Affairs College in Beijing after the Tiananmen Protests in June 1989. Instead, three students went to language institutes in Taipei, Taiwan and eight studied in Japan that year. ("Annual Report", 1988-1989)
Sources
“Bachelor of Arts with a Major in East Asian Studies, February 1975”, “East Asian Studies, Curriculum in General,” Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, University Archives, Wilson Library.
Miles Fletcher to Robert Howren, 1 March 1979, “East Asian Studies, Curriculum in General,” Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, University Archives, Wilson Library.
Dean Gillian T. Cell to Jeff Birrell, 2 November 1987, “East Asian Studies, Curriculum in General,” Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, University Archives, Wilson Library.
“East Asian Studies Curriculum: Annual Report, 1989-1990”, “East Asian Studies, Curriculum in General,” Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, University Archives, Wilson Library.