The University of California at Berkeley, recently disrupted by student protests demanding more minority teachers, has launched a new cultural studies program. Beginning with the freshman class of 1991, all undergraduates will be required to take one course on minority culture. Each of the courses will focus on three minority ethnic groups, said Ron Choy, assistant director of the new program. ``We're creating a whole new program from scratch,'' said Choy, assistant director of the new Center for the Teaching and Study of American Cultures. The center, planned for some time, opened Thursday. Choy said he expects students to welcome the courses, noting the ethnically diverse student body has a strong interest in race and minority reations. Some students boycotted classes for two days last month to protest the lack of ethnic diversity among the faculty. Out of 1,636 full professors, only 24 percent are women or members of minority groups. ``Frankly, this center was created partly to help get the faculty up to date,'' Choy said. ``We have to teach them, too.'' The 1989-90 student body is 45 percent white, 27 percent Asian, 13 percent Hispanic, 8 percent black, 1 percent American Indian and 6 percent undeclared, according to the school. The cultural studies center was created as part of a restructuring of Berkeley's 1960s-era ethnic studies programs, Choy said. ``Most ethnics studies classes just talk about one group,'' he said. ``We want to create new classes that will deal with at least three minority groups at one time in an integrated, comparative way.'' Such an overlapping picture of ethnic groups will better mirror society, he said.
