The issue will now be put to a vote before the full Faculty at its Nov. 18 meeting for a final decision.
Epps called the council’s vote a “wise and respectful decision” and said it will be of benefit both to students in the concentration and the University.
“It’s going to accommodate more students,” he said. “It’s going to put us in concert with our peer institutions. It’s going to render more visible the ties and tensions between [studies of women, gender and sexuality].”
Discussion about the place of gender and sexuality studies began seriously last year, with an unofficial Faculty committee that convened to hash out ways of centralizing those studies at Harvard. Epps said he convened the group after he was approached by several students from other departments seeking ways to plan courses of study that included issues of women, gender and sexuality.
—Staff writer Laura L. Krug can be reached at krug@fas.harvard.edu.