Latinos Seek Expansion of UCLA Cesar Chavez Center

A group of about 25 Latino activists held a news conference Wednesday at UCLA to demand the expansion of the school’s Cesar Chavez Center for Chicana and Chicano Studies.

The group wants departmental status for the 5-year-old center and for master’s and PhD programs.

The center was established in 1993 after students staged a hunger strike demanding a department of Chicano studies.

“UCLA has reneged on their commitment in terms of staffing, money and resources that they promised when the center was established,” said John Fernandez, who graduated from UCLA with a degree in Chicano studies in 1978.

The center has had five directors in as many years, which has stunted its growth, he said.

Scott Waugh, the dean of the social sciences department, which oversees the center, said it had made “enormous strides” despite the criticism.

Its budget has increased tenfold and its physical space has more than doubled since 1993, he said.

He admitted that finding a permanent director for the center had been difficult and said that the school has been talking to a “senior scholar well known in Chicano studies” who he said has expressed interest in the position. The school hopes to hire a center director within six months, he said.

Waugh said the creation of master’s and PhD programs in Chicano studies at UCLA were future goals of the center.