More than 11 years later, the objectives of campus hunger
strikes have been realized.
The UCLA Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies was approved
last week by Chancellor Albert Carnesale, but without the name
César E. Chávez attached to it, as the department had
requested.
Since its establishment in 1993, the César E. Chávez
Center for Interdisciplinary Instruction in Chicana and Chicano
Studies ““ created as a compromise to end a hunger strike
““ has tried to gain departmental status several times.
Reynaldo MacÃas, the chairman of the Chávez center,
said the center had been essentially operating as a department, but
having a department accomplishes what has been a conscious goal of
the center since 1999.
Recognition as a department was important in 1993 during the
hunger strikes because recognition would have meant more resources,
he said. But with the creation of the Chávez center, resources
became available, and the academic program grew and flourished.
“Today, going from a center to a department is less an
issue of resources and more an issue of historical
importance,” he said. “For many people it legitimizes
and normalizes the academic program. People understand what a
department is. They don’t understand what a center for
interdisciplinary instruction is.”
MacÃas said he and the chancellor will work together in the
future to ask the UC Office of the President to approve the naming
of the department after Chávez. In the meantime, the
Chávez center will continue to exist alongside the department
in order to continue to honor Chávez’s memory.
Eligio Martinez, the academic affairs commissioner for the
Undergraduate Students Association Council and a Chicana and
Chicano studies student, said departmentalization has been “a
long time coming” and that students in the department are
excited.
“I think the program is going to expand and be one of the
premier programs in the nation,” he said.
Martinez said the planned development of a graduate program is
what many Chicana and Chicano studies students have been waiting
for.
“There are very few graduate programs in Chicano and
Chicana studies, and that has forced a lot of my peers to pursue
masters and Ph.D.s in other fields. It’s going to allow us to
go into it a lot further,” he said.
Martinez said he was disappointed that the Chávez name was
not approved with the department, but that the initial objective of
the hunger strike was the establishment of a department. He added
that he hopes to see the name Chávez added to the department
to honor his legacy.
Allende Palma/Saracho, the president of USAC, said
departmentalization of Chicana and Chicano studies is a great
moment in campus history.
Discussion about naming the department will come in the future,
he said.
“We’re looking into making sure we do have a
department that honors the spirit of Chávez, and that we can
do it in a fashion that everyone can agree on,” he said.