Monday, March 3, 1997
EDUCATION:
Student groups campaign for ethnic/gender studies unit, citing
UCLA’s diverse campusBy Brooke Olson
Daily Bruin Staff
Citing recent events such as the passage of Proposition 209 as
alarming indicators of the need for cultural understanding, student
groups are mobilizing campus support to demand an ethnic and gender
studies requirement.
"UCLA is a diverse campus situated within a diverse community,"
said Alberto Retana, external vice president of the undergraduate
council. "An ethnic/gender studies requirement would be a
pro-active solution to discuss race, class and gender issues."
The Student Committee for Diversity Requirement, composed of
various student groups and undergraduate student government
representatives, launched an extensive diversity campaign last
week.
Their goal is to ensure that all UCLA students would be exposed
to issues of race, gender and sexual orientation as part of their
college education.
But the campaign faces an uphill battle.
Late last week, the Workgroup on General Education created a
proposal to revamp UCLA’s general education requirements.
The proposal, which must be approved by the Academic Senate
before its implementation, does not include an ethnic/gender
studies requirement.
Members of the Workgroup argue that although the proposal does
not include a specific requirement, it does recommend that courses
include ethnic/gender issues within the syllabi.
"Rather than having a single cluster or course (of ethnic/gender
studies), the committee took a very important step by saying that
any general education (GE) courses which there are implications for
gender or ethnicity must include those subjects in the course,"
said Judy Smith, vice provost for undergraduate education.
Some students believe that the proposal’s recommendation
resembles a 1993 Academic Senate resolution which encouraged
professors to take the initiative to bring multicultural
perspectives into the classroom.
"From (the student groups’) perspective, the resolution was
clearly a band-aid to a problem that necessitates serious
structural changes within the curriculum," said Max Espinoza,
undergraduate Academic Affairs commissioner and a member of the
Workgroup on General Education.
"I don’t think the resolution accomplished what it was supposed
to do  it was solely an act to stop students’ demands for an
ethnic/gender studies requirement," he added.
Espinoza suggested that the GE proposal would simply be another
way of supplementing students requests, while providing no
resources behind the requirement.
But staff members argue that the Workgroup proposal is more
substantial than the 1993 Academic Senate resolution. If the
proposal is approved, a special committee would review GE courses
to ensure that the classes comply with the Workgroup’s
requirements.
"The students who served on this Workgroup worked very hard on
this issue and we came to a rather good resolution," Smith
said.
"Students can continue pushing for a requirement, but my sense
is that the faculty will continue to oppose their actions."
The demand for an ethnic/gender studies requirement at UCLA is
hardly a new issue. Over the past 15 years, members of the Academic
Senate have routinely opposed the students’ requests.
In the early 1980s, many students on the UC campuses pushed for
a diversity requirement as a result of growing social hostility
towards women and people of color, Espinoza said.
The struggle reached a crescendo in 1993, when hundreds of
students submitted petitions and letters to members of the Academic
Senate in support of an American Cultures requirement.
On April 12, 1993 the year-long student campaign came to an end
when a faculty senate committee rejected the proposal. Instead, the
committee passed three resolutions in support of
multiculturalism.
Now, students argue, women and people of color are under attack
again. The July 1995 decision by the UC Regents to eliminate
affirmative action, in addition to passage of Propositions 187 and
209, have only strengthened the campaign against minorities and
women, said Vy Nguyen, the undergraduate Academic Affairs
commission curricular reform coordinator.
"What we’re seeing is a social phenomenon which will only go
away if the issues of women and people of color are addressed,"
Nguyen said. "All students have to take history or English because
its considered important for future knowledge.
"But it’s imperative to realize that an ethnic/gender studies
requirement has social implications  the world is very
diverse and people are going to have to be able to understand that
diversity," Nguyen added.
Currently, UCLA is the only UC campus that does not have an
ethnic and gender studies requirement. UC Berkeley requires
students to take a one semester course exploring three minority
communities, while UC Santa Barbara requires a one quarter ethnic
studies requirement.
Although Academic Senate officers did not return phone calls,
students noted the irony of the university’s situation.
"It’s rather odd that the UCLA Â which touts itself as one
of the most diverse campuses  doesn’t have the same type of
requirement as the other UCs," Nguyen said, adding that the
campaign to institute a diversity requirement would continue well
into next quarter.
"Students aren’t going to be as satisfied with ‘resolutions’ and
‘recommendations’ and we will continue with the campaign until the
university regards and addresses the issue as a main priority for
the school," she added.
JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS
Gabriel Perez (left), a first-year civil engineering student,
signs a petition endorsing a diversity requirement being held by
Max Espinoza, USAC Academic Affairs commissioner.