Dolores Huerta, a nationally renowned labor and women’s
rights activist who worked alongside César Chávez to
unionize California farm workers, was nominated by Gov. Gray Davis
on Sept. 9 to be the newest member of the University of California
Board of Regents.
Huerta, 73, will fill a five-month vacancy on the board left by
Norman Pattiz, who resigned from his regental position that will
expire in March so Davis can then appoint him to a 12-year term as
a UC regent.
Calling the nomination “a pleasant surprise,” Huerta
said one of her top priorities as a regent would be to advocate for
better educational funding.
“Education is one of the most important issues of our time
and what’s happening to education is a very big issue in
terms of the lack of money,” she said, adding that she would
try to actively lobby the California Legislature to increase
funding.
In July, the Legislature cut $410 million in funding to the
University of California, forcing the university to raise student
fees and slash funding to non-instructional programs, such as
libraries.
Senator Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, said she felt Huerta was a
“terrific” choice as regent and predicted that Huerta
would serve as a vocal proponent for student interests and would
appeal to a broad audience.
“She will be a champion for the University of California,
she will attract national and international interest in the UC, and
she will be an inspiration for students,” she said.
“She’ll just provide a hell of a voice.”
Romero proved to be instrumental in getting Huerta nominated to
the board by threatening to vote against Davis’ nomination
for Pattiz to a 12-year regental term.
As the crucial swing-vote on the Senate Rules Committee, which
confirms regents after they have been nominated, Romero said she
would not approve Pattiz’s appointment to his new term unless
Davis took steps to make the regents board more reflective of the
diversity of California.
After hurried afternoon negotiations, Romero said Davis agreed
to nominate Huerta in exchange for her affirmative vote on
Pattiz.
Kevin Ryan, a spokesman for Davis, declined to comment on the
reported compromise between Davis and Romero.
“The governor believes Dolores Huerta is the best person
for the job,” he said.
Romero said she was pleased with the compromise and stressed the
necessity for a diverse regents board.
“There is room to open up the appointment process to get
more of the everyday ordinary people in California, and appointees
need not be among the most wealthy,” she said.
Not including Huerta, five of the 18 appointed regents are black
or Latino and one is Asian American. Many are affluent businessmen
or businesswomen. Pattiz is the chairman of Westwood One, the
nation’s largest radio network, and Regent Haim Saban’s
company owns the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
Pattiz is also a generous donor to the Democratic party and has
donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Davis’ campaign
to fight the recall.
Born in New Mexico and raised in California’s Central
Valley farm communities, Huerta has pioneered many causes for
minorities and laborers. She has actively pushed the passage of
pieces of legislation allowing citizens the right to vote in
Spanish and permitting people to take driver’s license exams
in their native languages.
Alongside Chávez, Huerta helped co-found the National Farm
Workers Association, an early form of the United Farm Workers of
America. Together, they advocated for, among other things, the
healthcare and benefits rights of farm workers in the state and the
right to unionize.
Huerta’s history of activism also includes 22 arrests for
non-violent union activities, and she was wounded during a 1988
demonstration against then-Vice President George H.W. Bush in San
Francisco when riot police and protesters clashed. She also
protested against Proposition 209 ““ which outlawed the use of
affirmative action by state agencies ““ at a 1996 regents
meeting.
Citing over 50 years of experience of working with labor groups
and people of color, Huerta said as a regent she would emphasize
the perspective of minorities within California, particularly that
of the state’s burgeoning Latino population.
She also said her views on the importance of race might serve as
a balance to the views of Regent Ward Connerly, who is a strong
proponent of Proposition 54, an initiative on the October recall
ballot designed to prevent the state from collecting data on a
person’s ethnicity.
“I hope to expound a different perspective than
Ward,” she said.
Huerta has close ties to the UC, as one of her 11 children
graduated from medical school at UCLA and another is currently a
third-year undergraduate student UC Berkeley. Huerta also received
the César E. Chávez Spirit Award at UCLA last year.
Huerta will come before the Senate Rules Committee Thursday for
confirmation and will serve on the regents board until her term
expires in March, though she can be renominated before then.
Romero said she definitely plans to push Huerta’s
renomination.
“I will be her leading advocate,” she said.