Thursday, March 6, 1997
ACTIVISM:
Departmental evaluation provokes questions of exclusionBy Scott
Stimson
Daily Bruin Contributor
In a meeting that alternated between calm and rational discourse
and heated confrontation, student leaders, faculty and concerned
students discussed the future of UCLA’s Cesar E. Chavez Center
Wednesday afternoon.
A hallmark in UCLA’s history, Chicano students along with
community members sought to change the Chicano Studies program in
1993 from an amorphous interdisciplinary program to an actual
full-fledged deparment. A struggle of will between hunger-striking
Bruins and University administrators ensued for thirteen days.On
the day following the death of Civil Rights legend and student
supporter Cesar E. Chavez, Chancellor Young announced the formation
of the Chicano Studies Department with Chavez as its eponymous
namesake.
Now, thirty years after the first groundswells of support for
its creation hit campus and four-and-a-half years after its
realization, the Cesar E. Chavez Center faces its first
Departmental Evaluation. It is this academic evaluation that can
either proclaim the department to be the best in the nation or
defunct and in need of being overhauled or even dismantled.
It was during a meeting held last night at the campus’ private
Faculty Center that Vice Chancellor and Chavez Center Director
Raymund Paredes addressed students about the upcoming evaluation of
the Chicano Studies Department.
Students at Wednesday’s meeting claimed they are
underrepresented in choosing faculty, pointing to the conspicuous
absence of Chicano community members in the Center’s policy
creation.
Not long after the meeting began, the topic shifted away from
the academic evaluation to allegations that students are being
excluded from the decision-making process for the department,
including the possible reorganization of the UCLA ethnic studies
program which Chicano Studies is part of.
"The governance of the Cesar E. Chavez Center cannot continue to
be run in the authoritarian manner it is now," said original hunger
striker and fifth-year math, economics and Chicana/o Studies
student Cindy Montanez. "There needs to be a more democratic
process which places all decisions within the domain" of faculty,
students, Center staff and Chicano community members, she
added.
Other students present at the meeting expressed similar
feelings.
"The students have not been consulted regarding the hiring of
the vacant teaching position in the Center," said Academic Affairs
Commissioner Max Espinoza, alluding also to the proposed
restructuring of the ethnic studies department. "We at least want
to be involved in the process from beginning to end," he added.
Amidst students’ claims of being excluded, Paredes explained
last night’s meeting was evidence of his commitment to student
inclusion. "We have been attentive to student concerns and we will
continue to do so," he said.
Paredes said he is going beyond what is required by including
student’s critical letters in the department’s report that will be
given to the Academic Senate at the end of the month, saying "We
will attach all of the letters as an appendix to the report
submitted to the Academic Senate."
However, tempers flared when Paredes claimed that he desired
student involvement in the evaluation process while at the same
time maintaining that students cannot vote on which professors the
Chavez Center will hire.
"In order to hire faculty, you need to know how one scholar
compares to another," Paredes said, asserting that it is best for
professors to determine the ability of other academics rather than
inexperienced undergraduates determining who will be hired.
While students were concerned with an alleged lack of inclusion
in faculty hires, they asked why they were not warned of the
possible reorganization of the various ethnic studies
departments.
"Ethnic studies is a very sensitive area," said Hugo Maldonado,
Vice Chair of Internal Affairs for Movmiento Estudiantil Chicana/o
de Aztlan (MEChA). "When the University starts tampering with the
structure of ethnic studies, students need to know what is going
on."
JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin
Associate Vice Chancellor and Interim Chair of the Cesar Chavez
Center Raymund Paredes fields student’s questions regarding their
involvement in the academic review of the Center.