Marshall College's required writing program is called Dimensions of Culture (DOC), and is a 3 quarter (1 year) sequence that explores race, identity, imagination, tradition, and the law in the United States.

Provost Watson's term lasted eleven years as he then assumed a higher campus position as Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.

However, UCSD failed to attract enough black students for this plan to reach fruition and the UC Regents would not allow large scale deviation from the University of California's admission guidelines.

In 1993 UCSD's Third College finally received its official name in honor of the famous lawyer and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

[4] Before becoming the first African American Supreme Court Justice, Marshall argued the 1954 landmark civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education.

[5] In the early 1990s, Thurgood Marshall College created a core freshman writing program that provided a critical examination of identity and diversity in American culture.

The program, Dimensions of Culture (DOC), periodically generated heated debates among students, families, and alumni, based on difficult political issues.

The protests, including picketing, began with the controversial non-renewal of two DOC Teaching Assistants’ contracts for the subsequent year.

Others believed that the coalition was pushing an agenda of political indoctrination that conflicted with the academic goals of the Dimensions of Culture Program and the sensibility of a science oriented campus.

The coursework for the minor emphasizes the history and emergence of the non-profit sector as a national institution distinct from the private and public spheres.

The practicum aspects of the minor couples with the traditional academic work encourages students to see the connection between the deeds of charitable service and the historic worth of citizens participation in the common public franchise.

[8] The Film Studies Minor provides students an exciting opportunity to examine the many facets of American and International cinema.

Study of film genres, history, theories, directors, cultural perspectives and more allow students to gain a robust understanding of cinema as a historical and contemporary means of expression.

Then Thurgood Marshall College Provost Cecil Lytle and Sociology Professor Bud Mehan were instrumental in founding the Preuss School at UCSD, which opened in 1999 on campus despite strong opposition.

However, providing the impetus for the founding of The Preuss School reflected the social justice oriented mission of Marshall College.

[12] After Preuss was established successfully, the idea and structure of the UCSD-supported charter school model was expanded to Gompers Preparatory Academy.