CHICANO STUDIES DEPARTMENT REJECTED.Byline: LISA The first personal computer to include integrated software and use a graphical interface. Modeled after the Xerox Star and introduced in 1983 by Apple, it was ahead of its time, but never caught on due to its $10,000 price and slow speed. M. SODDERS Staff Writer SYLMAR -- Mission College's Faculty Senate on Thursday rejected a controversial proposal to spin off the Chicano studies Chicano studies is an academic discipline. Like most branches of Ethnic studies, it incorporates aspects of various other disciplines, including history, sociology, psychology, and literary and textual analyses from the academic studies of the English and Spanish languages. discipline into its own department. After a half-hour debate, the board voted 10-1 against the proposal, with nine members abstaining. English professor Ruthie Grant said the proposal didn't even meet the criteria for creating a department. ``This is the only way it could have gone,'' Grant said after the vote. ``People want exceptions and then they get upset because they don't meet the criteria. All we're trying to do is set some standards.'' But Mission counselor Jose Luis Ramirez
Luis Ramirez , who supported creating the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies, said the proposal will likely be revised and resubmitted. ``This program, like many other programs, can continue to grow,'' Ramirez said. The proposal was submitted by Chicano studies professors John J. Morales, the former chair of the social sciences department, and Jose A. Maldonado. They said separating the discipline from social sciences would allow it to grow and attract and retain more of the campus' 7,300 students, 70 percent of whom are Latino. Morales didn't attend the meeting, but Maldonado, who is on stress-related leave, implored the faculty to approve the new department. Chicano studies is a discipline, not a department, at most community colleges. East Los Angeles College ELAC is a two year college, offering associate degree programs in over 25 fields as well as both academic transfer courses which prepare students for admission to the University of California and California State University system and occupational programs which prepare students for , which has 21,000 students, may be the only community college in the country to have it as an independent department. Newly elected student body president Jesse Jesse (jĕs`ē), in the Bible, the descendant of Rahab, the grandson of Boaz and Ruth, and the father of David. Referring to the restoration of the Davidic monarchy, the Book of Isaiah speaks of a shoot coming from the "stump of Jesse. Martinez, 24, of San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. said the college should focus on offering more courses that will allow students to transfer to four-year universities. Mission has 21 sections of Chicano studies, but not a single physics class that is transferable to the University of California The University of California has a combined student body of more than 191,000 students, over 1,340,000 living alumni, and a combined systemwide and campus endowment of just over $7.3 billion (8th largest in the United States). , he said. Mission President Jose A. Leyba, who didn't attend the meeting, said there were hopeful signs in simply getting the faculty to discuss the proposal. Leyba has ordered mandatory mediation mediation, in law, type of intervention in which the disputing parties accept the offer of a third party to recommend a solution for their controversy. Mediation has long been a part of international law, frequently involving the use of an international commission, sessions, which began last week, to help ease tensions between the Chicano studies professors and other faculty. ``There's nothing wrong with saying, `I can't vote for the proposal in this format, but if you make these changes, I can support it,''' Leyba said. ``That's exactly the kind of civility that happens on college campuses, and somehow we lost sight of that (before the mediation.) ``This demonstrates that the college can heal. It may be a small step, but it is a step forward.'' lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3663 |
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