Chancellor visits undergrad student government

Published: Wednesday, November 30, 1994

Declares strong support for affirmative action, elaborates on Prop. 187 position

By Jennifer K. Morita

During a special appearance before the undergraduate student council Tuesday, Chancellor Charles Young reaffirmed his support for affirmative action in the face of what he feared was a growing hostility toward it.

Responding to council members' questions, Young discussed Proposition 187 and repercussions that may threaten multi-culturalism on campus.

"Proposition 187 is a harbinger of possible future actions. I believe there is a proposition that is already on the ballot for 1996 election which would make illegal affirmative action in the state of California," said Young. "I'm very concerned about a much more central attack on the whole concept of affirmative action. We've got to really work to make people understand why affirmative action is not important but absolutely essential."

Young stressed that there are real concerns that motivated people to vote for Proposition 187.

"We must understand the real concerns of those who voted for it," he said. "In other words, they may have been misguided, they may not have been very bright or understanding, they may have been pushed into it, no matter what, there are very real concerns that are behind it. We've got to respond in ways which are going to communicate with people."

Council members called Young's visit an opportunity to increase student involvement in the university administration.

"One of the goals that we had at the beginning of the year for USAC was to provide more interaction and more communication between undergraduate student government and administration," said undergraduate student government president Rob Greenhalgh at the meeting.

Greenhalgh added that student leaders are trying to arrange for Young to attend at least one council meeting a month. They are also trying to set up a town hall meeting where Young will be available to answer students' questions.

"The administration continually ... has been very supportive and eager to increase the degree of student participation," Young said. "We want to keep the student participatory process going at UCLA and I think by in large it's been very good."

One of the issues that came up was what kind of efforts would be made by the university towards ethnic diversity and multi-cultural programs. Academic Affairs Commissioner Alice Bae questioned Young on whether UCLA is making an effort to diversify its faculty to reflect the ethnic make-up of the students.

"The students change more rapidly than faculty," Young said. "Student turnover is every third or fourth year. Faculty turnover is three percent a year. So if you're not adding any faculty it takes a long time to bring a lot of change."

"The faculty isn't as ethnically diverse as the students but it is one of the most ethnically diverse faculties," he added.

Although he doesn't see UCLA's faculty becoming as diverse as its students in the near future, Young said the university is moving in that direction.