Pilipino Americans insist upon reform
By Allison Lefkowitz
Daily Bruin Staff
Members of UCLA’s Pilipino American community will gather today
to voice their support for Tagalog, the national language of the
Philippines, and for issues of curricular reform  including a
Pilipino studies program.
As the closing event of Pilipino American History Month, the
demonstration  tagged the "Brown and Down" rally by
coordinators  will begin at 10:30 a.m. in Westwood Plaza with
a traditional "ati-atihan" march, honoring an annual celebration
held in the province of Aklan, Panay in the Philippines.
Pilipino American students, many in traditional clothing, will
engage in a religious procession carrying banners and signs to
Schoenberg Plaza at 11:30 a.m., said Valerie Villaraza, coordinator
of the history month.
Speakers including Warren Furutani, a Los Angeles Unified School
District board member and Loralei Olaes, a city councilmember in
Carson, will voice the importance of curricular reform and speak on
behalf of the larger Pilipino American community.
In addition, UCLA students and community activists will address
rally participants.
Student organizers said they will also officially recognize
recent efforts by Dean of Humanities Pauline Yu to help keep
Tagalog in the curriculum.
"The rally will be a celebration of what Yu has done," said
Villaraza, a fourth-year history student.
"But it will also be a reminder to students that this is only
the beginning and that ethnic studies classes are needed, not only
for our community but to educate the larger community as well," she
added.