DANIEL WONG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Alex
Cota explains his petition to first-year law student
Didier Reiss in front of the UCLA School of Law,
Monday.
By Marcelle Richards
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Seventy-four-year-old Alex Cota would sooner die than give up
his 50-year pursuit of readmission to the School of Law. His fear
is time may beat him to the punch.
After a bypass heart surgery, the walk to the law school is
labored. Still, Cota returned Monday, petitions in hand, in a last
attempt to gain signatures in support for a redress he’s been
seeking since his dismissal from the school in 1952.
“The problem is, I need some help or I am going to
die,” he said. “That’s why I need the law
students.”
Cota was dismissed for not meeting the minimum grade by the end
of his first year but claims his enrollment was wrongfully
terminated because he was not allowed his right to due process and
petition. His test exam was destroyed, he said, and he was not
given enough notice to enroll in summer school to raise his
grade.
He’s still pushing to get back into the school.
The retired real estate broker stationed himself at the law
school patio Monday with the petitions scattered across a lonely
table. Most law students walked by without a second glance. With
little luck at his location, he distributed flyers around campus
and plans to return today.
In between doctor’s appointments, he types his argument,
which has become a painful task due to debilitating carpal tunnel
syndrome in his hands.
He looks weary, and wrings his hands as he waits for a passing
student to stop and hear his story that has survived most of those
involved.
It began in July 1952, when former dean Dale Coffman resided
over the law school, and loyalty oaths were distributed throughout
the university system. The McCarthy era was in full heat across the
country.
During a law class led by the dean, Cota claims Coffman said
Sen. Joseph McCarthy ““ who led the communist Red Scare in the
1950s ““ was “probably the greatest living
American.”
Cota told Coffman he “followed the antics of Sen. McCarthy
in the newspapers” and was later persecuted because he
“exposed Dean Coffman as a McCarthyite.”
In a deposition dated July 31, 1962, Coffman denied the train of
events, stating that Cota was the the one who instigated the
encounter by asking, “Aren’t you afraid of Sen.
McCarthy?”
Cota believes this encounter tainted all following circumstances
with Coffman.
A letter dated July 31, 1952 notified Cota that his overall
grade was 62.7 percent ““ three-tenths of a point shy of the
minimum required for continuation.
Cota said he was not allowed to see his final exam, which he
claims was destroyed by the administration.
Coffman said in his deposition that he produced the exam upon
request and Cota refused it. But in a later response, he
couldn’t confirm whether he presented Cota’s paper with
the exam or not.
Also dated July 31, 1952 was a letter notifying Cota he could
raise his grade by attending summer school. The letter was issued
after summer school had started, Cota said, and therefore he could
not attend.
The administration, after “re-examining”
Cota’s records, rejected his application for readmittance in
September, 1953.
A letter addressed to Cota from Harold Verrel, then-chair of the
Faculty Committee on admissions, states:
“You were notified on July 31, 1952 that your scholastic
average on all the work undertaken, was not satisfactory and that
you were not eligible to continue work in this school. The
Committee has reviewed your record and has reached the same
conclusion it reached before; namely, that you are not eligible to
return to this school.”
Without a lawyer or law degree, Cota has repeatedly tried to
gain readmission through the courts ever since.
So far, the results aren’t favorable.
The Supreme Court turned down his case this month, but Cota
hopes the petitions ““ the second round circulated since
October 2001 ““ will persuade the court to give him an
extension to petition for a hearing due to medical problems. He
gathered roughly 50 signatures last time.
“I’ve tried to be a fearless citizen,” he
said. “Our only last resort is to get citizens to
petition.”
“I have a lot I could do if I were a lawyer,” Cota
added.