Scholar’s Court Fight Taps Into Strong Emotions

Rodolfo Acuna, the academic militant, hasn’t got much in common with Selena, the late singer. He can’t sing, strut or dance. There’s really nothing sexy or glamorous about Acuna, who favors casual attire and straight talk.

On the other hand, Selena, the slain tejana singer, probably had never heard of Acuna’s philosophy that “the experience of Chicanos in the United States parallels that of other Third World peoples who have suffered under the colonialism of technologically superior nations.”

But there is a special bond that binds the two. They both hold a place in the Mexican experience in this country that stirs strong emotions.

Just as the Houston trial of Selena’s accused killer has drawn crowds, so too are standing-room-only crowds routine in the L.A. federal courtroom where Acuna is fighting his David vs. Goliath battle against the University of California system.

And like Selena’s fans, who are angry that until she died her music was widely dismissed as marginal in mainstream musical circles, Acuna’s supporters are furious that he has been slammed by fellow academics as a so-so researcher and an inappropriate mentor for aspiring doctoral candidates.

“How can they say that about him?” one of Acuna’s former students asked outside the courtroom in the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building. “He’s the best. By saying that he’s not good, [UC lawyers] are showing no respect for our community and history.”

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Acuna’s case against the UC seems straightforward. A tenured professor of Chicano studies at Cal State Northridge, which has the largest Chicano studies department in the nation, he sued the UC system after being rejected in 1991 for a professor’s job at UC Santa Barbara.

He claimed that he was turned down for the Chicano studies position in Santa Barbara because of his political activism, his ethnicity and age. He said Santa Barbara wanted no part of his firebrand approach to teaching and community activism, which had gotten him in headlines and political hot water over the years.

UC officials responded in court by contending that Acuna’s landmark 1972 book on Chicanos in the United States, “Occupied America,” was a good textbook (it is still widely used) but not the scholarly work that the UC expects. His scholarly work overall was, the UC said, “thin,” “marginal” and not very objective. Also, UC’s lawyers argue, Acuna lacked the backing of the majority of the Chicano studies faculty in Santa Barbara, where only three of the department’s eight members supported his hiring.

In recent rulings, U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins has limited the scope of Acuna’s lawsuit to age discrimination. He was 59 when he applied for the Santa Barbara job in 1990.

So while the lawyers argue inside the courtroom--the jury is expected to begin deliberations this week--the larger question of what the case really means is raging outside.

“It’s like asking if tejano music is significant,” said Acuna supporter Elena Martinez, referring to the Selena case. “Of course it is. Saying Rudy Acuna is not qualified to teach at the UC is ridiculous. He wrote the book on Chicano studies. And if he wrote the book on the subject, how can they say he is not scholarly? They have a Chicano studies department in Santa Barbara and scholarly work must be going on there.”

Some see the UC as a stuffy place where academics of Acuna’s stripe are not welcome.

Others say the case is another example of an entrenched bureaucracy dismissing the value of Chicanos. This is the same institution that has allowed officials at UCLA to resist widespread Latino pressure to establish a Chicano studies department in favor of a small interdisciplinary program.

The David vs. Goliath analogy comes into play in other ways.

When several young women showed up in court last week wearing red “Justice for Janitors” T-shirts, they were ordered to leave the courtroom because the judge feared the jury might be influenced beyond the age discrimination limits she has set.

Acuna’s supporters say that violates the free speech rights of the common folks. “The whole trial’s been that way,” one activist said.

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I understand Acuna’s anger over being rejected. It’s never an easy thing to accept, but he doesn’t need the UC to tell him he is the premier Chicano studies scholar of his time. He is, period.

Nothing that the Houston jury decides will change Selena’s importance to her fans; nothing the federal jury here decides will change Acuna’s stature--either for those who honor him or for those who dismiss him.

Supporters of Acuna’s qualifications won’t need a jury to tell them what they already know.