Chancellor visits undergrad student government
Declares strong support for affirmative action, elaborates on
Prop. 187 position
By Jennifer K. Morita
During a special appearance before the undergraduate student
council Tuesday, Chancellor Charles Young reaffirmed his support
for affirmative action in the face of what he feared was a growing
hostility toward it.
Responding to council members’ questions, Young discussed
Proposition 187 and repercussions that may threaten
multi-culturalism on campus.
"Proposition 187 is a harbinger of possible future actions. I
believe there is a proposition that is already on the ballot for
1996 election which would make illegal affirmative action in the
state of California," said Young. "I’m very concerned about a much
more central attack on the whole concept of affirmative action.
We’ve got to really work to make people understand why affirmative
action is not important but absolutely essential."
Young stressed that there are real concerns that motivated
people to vote for Proposition 187.
"We must understand the real concerns of those who voted for
it," he said. "In other words, they may have been misguided, they
may not have been very bright or understanding, they may have been
pushed into it, no matter what, there are very real concerns that
are behind it. We’ve got to respond in ways which are going to
communicate with people."
Council members called Young’s visit an opportunity to increase
student involvement in the university administration.
"One of the goals that we had at the beginning of the year for
USAC was to provide more interaction and more communication between
undergraduate student government and administration," said
undergraduate student government president Rob Greenhalgh at the
meeting.
Greenhalgh added that student leaders are trying to arrange for
Young to attend at least one council meeting a month. They are also
trying to set up a town hall meeting where Young will be available
to answer students’ questions.
"The administration continually … has been very supportive and
eager to increase the degree of student participation," Young said.
"We want to keep the student participatory process going at UCLA
and I think by in large it’s been very good."
One of the issues that came up was what kind of efforts would be
made by the university towards ethnic diversity and multi-cultural
programs. Academic Affairs Commissioner Alice Bae questioned Young
on whether UCLA is making an effort to diversify its faculty to
reflect the ethnic make-up of the students.
"The students change more rapidly than faculty," Young said.
"Student turnover is every third or fourth year. Faculty turnover
is three percent a year. So if you’re not adding any faculty it
takes a long time to bring a lot of change."
"The faculty isn’t as ethnically diverse as the students but it
is one of the most ethnically diverse faculties," he added.
Although he doesn’t see UCLA’s faculty becoming as diverse as
its students in the near future, Young said the university is
moving in that direction.