A Chicano Activist-Scholar on the Hunger Strike and the Future

Rodolfo Acuna is a Chicano studies professor at Cal State Northridge and a pioneer in the field.

In this interview with staff writer Sam Enriquez, Acuna discusses the issues surrounding the recent hunger strike at UCLA, in which nine people protested the refusal of Chancellor Charles E. Young to elevate Chicano studies to a status alongside traditional academic departments.

The strikers included a 16-year-old San Fernando High School girl and a 52-year-old man. They camped in tents for two weeks ending June 7.

Their action was among the events that followed Young’s announcement that he would not change the status of Chicano studies, for 20 years an interdisciplinary program at the campus. Chicano activists had demanded department-level status for the program, increasing its authority over spending, hiring and curriculum.

The decision also sparked a student protest May 11 that escalated into a takeover of the faculty center, caused as much as $50,000 in damage and led to 99 arrests.

Question: Why is establishing a Chicano studies program important?

Answer: The issue can’t be taken in isolation. It must be seen in the historical context of where Mexicans and other Latinos stand. It’s not an issue of militancy or fanaticism--some of the strikers call themselves “Mexican-Americans,” others call themselves “Latino.” The point is they all feel a general disrespect by society.

Their history isn’t respected, and they aren’t respected as a people. At a certain point, you just have to take a stand.

When my wife goes to the mall and my daughter, who is 8, starts to play with the other kids, the mothers ask my wife if she is the servant taking care of the girl. Because my wife is darker than my daughter, they think she is the nanny.

To the mainstream society, everybody with brown skin and brown eyes is Mexican.

A Chicano studies program symbolizes that we are important. That we have a political as well as academic space inside the institution.

When you make a study of Chicanos, that impacts the future of this city. I have white students who say they have never had a Chicano teacher from kindergarten to 12th grade. So it’s healthy to see educated Chicanos to break the stereotypes.

This protest was the result of three years of constant insults. Charles Young acted like a British colonist in India--all he needed were Wellington boots and a swagger stick.

At first he said there would be a Chicano studies department over his dead body. Then he backed off a little bit, but said it was not a justified field of study. He is denying that Mexicans and Mexican-Americans are worthy of studying in an academic way.

The big bang was the student arrests. The administration was counting on daily protests during the last three weeks of school. Then they would hit them with finals and send them all home. I thought that a fast would bring attention, but never in my wildest dreams did I think they’d go on a hunger strike.

But when all is said and done, it was the only tactic that the administration would listen to. It shook up the city. Two thousand Fremont High School students walked out of classes the Friday before they settled it and nine or more other high schools would have also had walkouts the following week.

Q: What exactly defines Chicano studies?

It takes in the history of Mexico and Mexicans living in the U.S. In recent years, with the arrival of many Central Americans, more and more of us are thinking “Chicano” is taking on broader meanings. We have to incorporate study of Central Americans as well.

Q: What about spending the money, scarce as it is, for programs directly aiding Chicano students, such as scholarship money, tutors and recruiters?

When they were flush with money, they never spent it on Chicano studies or any aggressive recruitment.

Look at a history department at UC Santa Barbara or UCLA. They have at least five historians who are medievalist. Am I opposed to that? No. But it seems a little esoteric. How many at the campus are interested in that? You can find a lot of such esoteric courses.

If I thought it was a real budget crunch--an either/or situation--I might rethink my position. But it’s not true.

They have to look at their priorities. When you talk about Chicano studies, you are not talking about very much money. UCLA makes something like $250,000 a month from just parking fines.

Q: Why can’t the courses be taught as part of other departments?

It’s a matter of control. For 23 years they’ve been offered in other departments and failed. They just cease to be offered. Say you’re the sociology department, and you are strapped for funds, don’t you think you are going to scrap the Chicano studies course instead of the general sociology course? And who is going to hire a Chicano studies professor for the department ahead of a sociology professor? Who will review the latest work in the field and who will control the curriculum?

Q: Doesn’t this compound existing segregation?

Our first graduate from the Chicano studies program at Cal State Northridge was a 45-year-old white woman from Cheyenne, Wyo., with three kids. Now she is doing work all over Latin America and we are very proud of her.

More than 60% of the students who take Chicano studies courses at CSUN are white. Chicano studies is for everybody.

Q: What are Chicano studies graduates prepared to do as a career?

Anything that a history major or anyone studying liberal arts is prepared to do: journalism, law school, social work, urban planning.

Q: How is the Chicano studies department at CSUN?

The school conducted a survey of the school’s 10 deans. And six of 10 rated Chicano studies fourth, fifth or sixth out of 50 departments. We have a good reputation. But our mission is different. We are a teaching institution and UCLA is a research institution. We need more research in the field.

Q: Is this worth dying for?

People die over love. People die over oil. People die for religion. People die for many reasons. I think oppression is oppression.

This is dying for principle. They are not dying to go to heaven or to get publicity for themselves. They believe in a principle. In 10 years, this hunger strike will be studied by whites, blacks, Chicanos. Some will call it a millenarian movement. Others will call it nationalism. Others, altruism. Others will say it was the breaking point to keep dignity.

I think they represent the best in the Chicano community--kids who’ve gotten an education and still care about others.