Some parents and students have risen in opposition to the selection of Gustavo Arellano as this year’s keynote speaker for the College of Letters and Science commencement ceremony.
Last week, Arellano, author of the “¡Ask a Mexican!” column in the OC Weekly and a contributing editor at the Los Angeles Times, posted a video on his YouTube channel of a voice mail complaint he received from a caller who identified herself as Sandy Roberts, a UCLA parent.
“No one wants to listen to you. You have done nothing of significance; you are not a Pulitzer Prize-winning author; you have done nothing that these kids can look up to,” Roberts said in the voice mail message that played during the video.
Roberts strongly expressed the opinion that Arellano should withdraw as the commencement speaker and said that she, along with other parents, were starting a petition calling for his replacement, as well as contacting Chancellor Gene Block and the Los Angeles Times about the issue.
As an investigative reporter and the author of a column disliked by many for its polarizing views on Mexican-American culture, Arellano said he is used to criticism and even threats.
“Criticism of me and my work is such old hat at this point, I get flattered when people waste so much energy getting upset at me,” he said. “So when I heard the voice mail, I laughed, and I knew I had to do a story on it.”
Shortly after the College announced Arellano as the speaker, a group named “Bruins Against Gustavo Arellano for UCLA 2010 commencement speaker” appeared on Facebook. The group, created by fourth-year psychology and women’s studies student Sammi Holzer, currently has 327 members.
“I knew a lot of people who, when we found out about the speaker, we were like, “˜Who’s that?'” Holzer said. “We’ve never heard of him before.”
After researching Arellano, Holzer acknowledged his accomplishments but said some students in the group did not think Arellano embodied their graduating class, citing an article in which Arellano said that he did not attend his own graduation from UCLA.
“We would just like someone to speak at ours who cared enough about his own graduation to go,” she added.
Members of the group also questioned the amount of student input throughout the speaker selection process. Holzer said she created the group partly because she thought Facebook was the only outlet for students to have their opinions heard.
“I don’t know anyone who was asked about who we wanted for speaker, and a lot of us feel like we didn’t have a voice in it,” she said.
Yet other students disagreed with supporters of the Facebook group and its approach.
“The issue with that Facebook group is … its approach because it’s saying, “˜Come on, couldn’t we get someone more famous?'” said Salmon Hossein, a fourth-year political science and international development studies student. “I think it’s kind of superficial saying that someone who’s famous can speak better than someone who’s not famous.”
Hossein said he expected a school of UCLA’s caliber to have a more well-known speaker, but he said he still has high expectations.
“I imagine he will be a good speaker, giving him the benefit of the doubt,” Hossein said.
Undergraduate Students Association Council President Cinthia Flores sat on the committee to recommend commencement speakers to the deans.
Flores was in regular communication with students through USAC and also compiled a student survey regarding the speaker, said Julie Sina, chief of staff of the College of Letters and Science.
The committee receives feedback every year and will take into consideration all the issues raised this year as it begins to plan for the next, Sina added.
Arellano said he still hopes to give a speech students can draw a lesson from.
“Obviously, I want more than one person to like my speech, but that’s all I can hope for,” he said. “I just want to put forth my best effort and hope for the best.”
Arellano has also been asked by The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, a labor union that represents 17,000 UC workers, to honor their call for a UC-wide speaker boycott in response to layoffs and proposed pay cuts.
Two speakers dropped out of their commitments at UC Berkeley, and Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) withdrew from UC Riverside.
Arellano said he politely declined AFSCME 3299’s offer. A similar labor dispute in 2008 caused former President Bill Clinton to withdraw as the College’s keynote speaker.