Imperiled UCLA Chicano Studies Major to Be Saved : Education: Low funding and enrollment hurt the program. An infusion of money and staff is announced.

The Chicano studies major at UCLA, which was in danger of being suspended, has been bolstered with new funding and support from Chancellor Charles E. Young.

The Committee to Administer the Chicano Studies Major will be given one staff member, one researcher, office space and supplies, university officials said. In addition, the committee will receive funds to increase faculty, reorganize the major and develop more introductory courses, which have been taught by instructors in various departments, including history, sociology, Spanish and Portuguese.

Officials put the cost of those services at between $150,000 and $200,000.

“We ought to have a very good, high-quality Chicano studies program,” Young said Monday after a meeting to discuss ways to improve the major.

While interdisciplinary Chicano studies courses have been popular on the campus over the last 21 years, only 12 students majored in the field during the last school year, and no Chicano studies courses were offered last quarter.

Students and Latino faculty members said basic problems included inadequate funding and administrative structure. The major has been handled by a committee operating on an annual budget of $1,500 and is not part of an academic department.

Raymond L. Orbach, provost of the College of Letters and Science, said a faculty Senate committee recommended last spring that admissions into the program be halted. “We felt that there was not a strong faculty oversight and that many of the courses were not offered on a regular basis,” Orbach said.

But those plans were dropped after Latino students, including members of the Chicano/Latino student group Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Atzlan, held rallies to protest the proposed suspension.

“The students were very helpful in seeing that this issue got more attention more quickly than it would have otherwise,” Young said.

The closed-door meeting with faculty members, including Latinos and vice chancellors, was called by Young to seek their opinions, according to David Hayes-Bautista, director of the UCLA Chicano Research Center.

A handful of members of the student group protested because they were not invited to participate. “This meeting is a deviation from the process we began ourselves,” said sophomore Mark Aguilar, educational coordinator for the student group.

Some Latino faculty said they felt uncomfortable participating in a meeting that had no ties to the Chicano studies committee, chaired by sociology professor Vilma Ortiz and history professor George Sanchez. Neither attended the meeting, and they were not available for comment Monday.