• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

The process to departmentalize the César E. Chávez Center for Interdisciplinary Instruction in Chicana/o Studies, as well as the Interdisciplinary Program for Asian American Studies, has recently faced some unforeseen obstacles.

Though departmentalization is almost complete for the Chicana/o studies program, the issue of its name has proven to be controversial.

In the departmentalization process, a number of steps must be taken. Most recently, the departmentalization of the Chicana/o program has been approved by the Faculty Executive Board of the Academic Senate.

It was forwarded to the executive vice chancellor and now just awaits final approval.

Program members are confident that the interdepartmental program will be officially recognized as a department, since it has been approved by all the necessary groups.

“The whole review process in the Academic Senate was very supportive of its departmentalization as an instructional unit,” said Professor Clifford Brunk, Academic Senate chairman.

The controversy surrounding the would-be department is whether or not its name will be recognized.

Currently, there are no departments at UCLA named after any particular person, and executive board members fear setting a precedent.

Naming a department after a certain person would imply that the entire department focuses its curricula on that person, Brunk said, adding that this would restrict its breadth and research.

The executive board avoided the naming issue when it approved the departmentalization. Therefore, the decision on the name will lie solely on the executive vice chancellor’s shoulders.

Eligio Martinez, Academic Affairs commissioner of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, doubts the vice chancellor will approve.

Martinez feels there is a misunderstanding about what the name, César Chávez, means.

“That center stands for what (Chávez) did. Taking his name away is like taking away the department’s identity,” Martinez said.

Brunk emphasized that declining to name the department after the activist is in no means a bias against Chávez himself.

“It would be highly inappropriate to attach a surname to a department,” Brunk said.

The other ethnic studies program currently in the process of departmentalization is the Interdisciplinary Program for Asian American Studies.

Since establishing a department would not require additional money from the university, faculty members are optimistic about the possibility for approval for the program.

“We are hopeful that departmentalization will happen soon,” said Professor Min Zhou, the interdepartmental chairwoman for Asian American studies.

There may be concern that if an interdepartmental program becomes departmentalized, a trend will start among other interdepartmental programs, Zhou said.

This is worrisome for the administration because there could be an explosion in the number of departments at UCLA.

“If this is true, it is not fair,” Zhou said. “The focus should be made on intellectual merit and more on undergraduate education and curriculum.”

Since the Asian American studies program has been running and operating with great strength as an interdepartmental program, changing it into a department may seem to be fixing a non-existent problem, Zhou said.

Departmentalizing the program will allow faculty to be recruited for specific Asian American curricula, as opposed to hiring based on priorities from different departments.

The Undergraduate Council of the Academic Senate voted on the Asian American studies department at its June 4 meeting.

The vote resulted in a split, with three members approving and three members disapproving the program’s departmentalization. There were also some abstentions.

The proposal will be presented to the undergraduate and graduate councils on Friday for another vote. Opinions of both councils will be more firmly set following this presentation.