Latino Group Criticizes CSUN Paper

A Chicano student group at Cal State Northridge has launched a protest against the campus paper over what it says was a harsh and insensitive editorial supporting a state requirement that expels remedial freshman who fail to catch up.

At an Associated Students meeting Tuesday, two members of MEChA, an acronym for Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, criticized the Sundial paper and suggested its funding be cut off.

“They say they are an independent paper, but they receive $16,000 in student fees,” said Astrid Martinez, a member of student government and MEChA.

Robert Hanff, president of the committee that oversees funding for the Sundial, said funding would not be withdrawn.

The editorial published a week ago under the headline “How Did They Get Here in the First Place?” endorsed a measure that requires freshmen in the California State University system to be expelled if they fail to fulfill their remedial requirements during their first academic year.

The editorial, which sparked a protest by 30 Latino students at the Sundial office a week ago, did not mention any ethnic group. But some Latino students said it indirectly targeted them.

Martinez said she objected to the harsh tone of the editorial and said that members of MEChA felt singled out because “stereotypically, they are the ones taking remedial classes.”

Last fall, 75% of Latino freshmen needed remediation in math and 70% in English. In comparison, 63% of all Northridge freshmen needed remediation in math and 59% in English. Statewide, 54% of all fall 1998 freshmen needed remedial math and 47% needed remedial English.

The editorial suggested Cal State campuses should turn away all remedial students.

“If students who attend CSUN cannot pass a remedial English or math class, do not admit them into the university to begin with,” stated the editorial, which ends with the rhetorical question: “Isn’t it better to pull the weed out by its root, instead of merely snipping the ends?”

The paper’s editorial board has refused to apologize for the editorial and denied all charges of racism. After last week’s confrontation, Sundial Editor Brian Franks filed a complaint with campus police against the protesters for allegedly disturbing the peace and making threats.

Franks said the Sundial will publish an editorial today suggesting K-12 schools do a better job and if graduates are not ready for four-year universities, they should attend community colleges first.

“I’m in a confusing situation here,” he said. “I support their right to protest and I can see where they’re coming from, but at the same time we have a 1st Amendment right to publish an editorial.”

The state measure, Executive Order 665, went into effect last fall to signal to California’s K-12 schools the need for tougher standards and to shift the focus of first-year students from remediation to college-level work.

“It’s very clear to us who they were targeting,” said Gerald Resendez, chairman of the Chicano Studies Department. “They’re saying minority students are here and should not be here, and are taking the places of other students that should be here.”

Marjorie Garcia, a MEChA member, said the editorial was insensitive.

“It wasn’t tasteful at all,” she said. “It was nasty.”

The measure has been the subject of several protests, and minority students have been among its most ardent critics. By this fall, 193 students, or 8% of Cal State Northridge’s fall 1998 freshmen, had been expelled because of the measure. Systemwide figures are not yet available.

Franks said it was not the paper’s intent to offend any minority, and he plans to discuss the matter in a meeting today with MEChA leaders.