Monday, 2/24/97
UCLA Faculty holds forum to honor retiring chancellor
YOUNG: Speakers will praise strong devotion to academic
freedom
By Gil Hopenstand
Daily Bruin Staff
The tributes just keep on coming.
With his retirement only four months away, Chancellor Charles
Young will be honored today by university faculty in a lecture and
reception at Schoenberg Auditorium.
"The (Academic) Senate was trying to think of a way the faculty
could honor Chancellor Young," said Lauren Fair, the Academic
Senate’s chief administrative officer. She explained that they
finally chose "his stand on academic freedom."
University spokesperson Karen Mack said this issue dates back to
Young’s earliest days as chancellor in 1969.
Then, newly-hired UCLA philosophy Professor Angela Davis
revealed her affiliation with the Black Panthers and the Communist
Party. The UC Regents feared Davis would "indoctrinate" UCLA
students into communism and called on Young to fire her.
But Young held his ground on the issue, refusing to dismiss
Davis based on her political beliefs. Eventually, the regents took
the matter into their own hands and fired her in spite of Young’s
defense.
"One underlying theme throughout his service here was his
dedication and unwavering support to academic freedom," agreed
Chand Viswanathan, the Academic Senate vice chair and an electrical
engineering professor.
In more recent years Young’s stance on tinder box issues such as
affirmative action and racial diversity, has secured his
administration’s reputation as "remarkable," Viswanathan said.
Young’s tribute will include speeches by Academic Senate Chair
Aimee Dorr and Brown University President Vartan Gregorian, who
will address the issue of academic freedom.
"This is the only faculty tribute to Chancellor Young," Fair
said, explaining that today’s event will have an academic
focus.
TRIBUTE: The lecture starts today at 3p.m. at Schoenberg
Auditorium with a reception to follow. Memorabilia and photographs
chronicling Young’s years as chancellor will be displayed outside
the auditorium. The events are free and open to all university
community members.