MOVIES - Nov. 4, 1988

Student petitioners lost a round in their fight against the UCLA film-television department’s move to eliminate the school’s undergraduate film major. The department’s faculty has recommended scrapping the program in favor of an interdisciplinary film major that would downplay film production by undergraduates in favor of a broader liberal arts education. “They’re going to weaken the school and strengthen (competing) USC and New York University,” says Dan Angel, a senior in the UCLA program. A school spokesman said the step is meant to make better use of resources. The department has 300 graduate students and 100 undergraduates.