Apparently, there isn’t enough unmarketable specialized “studies” degrees at the University of Washington.

Students there want the school to create a whole, new degree program devoted to an ethnic group.

Perhaps potential majors should weigh their realistic career outcomes before pressing farther on their demands.

To many, the Pacific Islands may seem to be just specs within an endless sea of blue on a globe.

“People don’t see it as a country, just water,” said Mario Teulilo, a fifth-year student returning to UW next quarter.

And it’s not just a lack of visibility on a map. On campus, in classrooms and textbooks, Pacific Islanders often go overlooked.

Some programs at the UW have attempted to change this. And right now, there has been a growing movement to establish a Pacific Islander Studies major and department.

“I’m actually a product of the many outreach programs that they conducted from here,” Teulilo said. “So the discussion of Pacific Islander Studies as a major is not something totally new, it’s stuff that was promised to us students when we were in high school.”

He is one of nine students on a task force put together by ASUW this past November working to establish the major at the UW, with the ultimate goal of creating a department dedicated to Pacific Islander Studies.

For any new course of study to manifest itself as part of the university’s academic offerings, it must ultimately go through faculty governance. At the department, college, and university level there are committees and councils in which new courses or degrees are discussed and debated by faculty.

“Through such governance, myriad factors come into play, not least anticipated student demand, capacity of the institution, and concern regarding duplication of effort,” said Jason Johnson, an associate dean in the Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, via email. “These are very thoughtful and thorough processes taken up by any university’s faculty, as any new program of study requires a significant, ongoing investment of institutional resources,” he said.

The proposal must show the feasibility, possible curriculum, and value of having a Pacific Islander Studies major and department. While there is no set date or time frame for when the proposal will be submitted, if approved it would likely take a few years for a Pacific Islander Studies option to become available to students.