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Editorial

Young's vocal affirmative action stance is much-needed

With affirmative action debates well underway and heating up at UCLA, Chancellor Charles Young's plans for a campus-wide affirmative action education campaign come as welcome news this week.

In a campus climate threatening divisions on issues of race- and gender-based preferences, Young's defense of affirmative action attempts to open up debate and to inform students, faculty, alumni and staff about how affirmative action works, who it benefits and, in particular, what UCLA would be like without it.

We at the Daily Bruin welcome this move. By making this statement in support of affirmative action programs, Young once again places himself at the forefront of the campus debate and clarifies his stance on an issue of growing relevance to the university community.

The importance of Young's ideological stance on campus issues cannot be underestimated, because his leadership position affects everyone in the campus community. And because in recent years,Young hasn't taken much of a vocal stand, not even when students demanded he do so during the Chicana/o studies debates in spring 1993 or in the days leading up to the Proposition 187 vote last fall.

His defense of affirmative action harkens back to his early years as chancellor, when ­ in the midst of controversy ­ he came out in vocal support of Professor Angela Davis. He has always fought for affirmative action, which he has said is too often built around the false premise that affirmative action benefits only disadvantaged and minority students.

In vocally reaffirming these beliefs, Young's statement may signify new possibilities for the university community. By severing some of his ties with the UC Regents ­ particularly with Regent Ward Connerly, who wants an end to race-based preferences ­ he may point to a new kind of independence: As the most experienced chancellor in the UC system who is no longer in the running for UC president, Young may be less encumbered by politics and potentially better able to take a strong stance on issues affecting the UCLA community, to focus on the issues that matter most, to the students, in particular.

The challenge is his.

Our support of his statement does not come without skepticism, however; his position will only be truly significant if he continues to take an active concern in promoting intelligent, informed debate in the campus and university community in the future.

As Young was quoted as saying in the March 3 Los Angeles Times, were it not for affirmative action programs, "We'd be in a battleground ... If we had not been doing what we have been doing for the last 25 years, this place would be a shambles."

And he's right.

Again, we welcome Young's vocal defense of affirmative action. But we hope it signals a new kind of leadership role for the chancellor, one that signifies the beginning of improved communication and, when the time comes for decisions to be made regarding reform and policy-making, a more responsible debate.

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