Plan Unveiled for UCLA Department of Chicano Studies : Education: Latino professors behind the proposal admit there is strong sentiment against it from administrators.

Acknowledging that they face an uphill battle, a group of Chicano professors at UCLA unveiled a proposal Tuesday to create a Chicano studies department, arguing that it will help the school become a vital resource for Southern California’s growing Latino population.

The plan--which calls for the initial hiring of five to seven professors to staff a department of 120 students--marks the latest round in a two-year controversy over the future of Chicano studies at UCLA.

“We think the time is right to do this,” sociology professor Vilma Ortiz said at a news conference attended by 30 supporters in front of the UCLA administration building.

Ortiz and some others in attendance admitted that there is strong sentiment against the creation of such a department among campus administrators who believe it might be doomed to failure from the start.

That became clear late in the day when administration officials released letters from the provost of UCLA’s College of Letters and Science and the chairman of the school’s Academic Senate, who said they would recommend against the creation of a Chicano studies department.

Provost Raymond L. Orbach, in his report, said the school should develop a better-funded Chicano studies program.

UCLA Chancellor Charles Young, meeting with reporters after the professors’ late-morning news conference, reiterated his belief that, based on his experience with ethnic studies programs, a better-funded curriculum, not a department, may be the best approach.

“(But) I’m prepared to be dissuaded,” Young said, noting that he received the Chicano professors’ proposal but had not reviewed it.

The future of Chicano studies at UCLA has ignited emotional confrontations on campus and strident community meetings at which Chicano politicians and activists have accused campus administrators of trying to abolish Chicano studies.

At the heart of the controversy is how best to revive a money-starved curriculum that deteriorated to the point last year that only 11 students were majoring in the subject.

Members of the campus student group, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), contend that the creation of a Chicano studies department and the hiring of permanent faculty would be the best solution to the survival of a bachelor’s degree curriculum at UCLA.

With 3 million Latinos--most of them of Mexican descent--living in California’s 13 southern counties--UCLA must have a Chicano studies department, MEChA members said.

The student group took up the issue after a committee of the Faculty Senate in 1989 found serious flaws in the Chicano studies program and recommended that the university suspend the admission of new students while exploring ways of strengthening the curriculum.

While admitting that Chicano studies was allowed to decline because of the university’s inattentiveness, some influential Chicano administrators counter that there are not enough qualified teachers nationwide to immediately staff a new department.

They favor an augmented program in which the faculty would be allowed to concentrate on Mexican-American subjects but teach in other areas.

Since 1973, Chicano studies has been an interdepartmental bachelor’s program that draws faculty on a voluntary basis from other campus departments, such as history, English and Spanish. The program was created in 1969.

Currently, 37 students are majoring in Chicano studies with another 40 listing it as a minor. Overall, Latinos make up 14% of UCLA’s enrollment of 32,800 students.

The professors’ proposal, on which they did not put a price tag, includes several unique items not normally associated with academic programs.

For example, it calls for the creation of a community advisory board to guide the new department and help with fund raising, recruitment and retention of Latino students.

Also, the proposal calls for a student services unit within the department to help with students’ academic, social and personal needs.

The professors said they decided to submit the proposal after Young was quoted as saying that a proposal for a Chicano studies department should come from the faculty, not from community groups advocating a particular viewpoint.

At their news conference, the professors made a point of telling reporters that they were merely following Young’s suggestion. They said the chancellor should “keep his word” and approve their proposal.

Apprised of the remarks, Young quipped, “Yes, but I didn’t say it would be automatically approved.” He said a decision on the Chicano Studies Department will be made in late March.