1994_12 The Daily Collegian December 1994

              Anew wayto read
Photo by Tommy Monreal
Always Running is the topic of Juan Felipe Hen-eras' 100th Chieano Literature. Luis Rodriguez, the author of the book Always
Running, depicts life as a gang member in East LA:
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Acuna sues the University of
Rbcjbi its for racial cisctiiiiiation
Monitors    sought    for
MEChA's 22nd annual CYC
By Chmsttna Gom&
,a Voz Staff Writer
UC Santa Barbara Professor
Rodolfo Acufia has been in¬
volved in a heated legal debate
with the University of California
system for the past tfiree years.
Acuna is filing suit against the
UC system based cm raaal dis¬
crimination. The anticipated end
of the suit be around February
1995. Unfortunately with legal
battles there comes the need for
financial support, much needed
support to getting it resolved.
Dr. Acufia is the nationally
and internationally known au¬
thor of the book, Occupied
America, which has been used as
an introduction to Chieano his¬
tory arid political consciousness
for many schools.
But now Acuna has almost
become a spokesperson for the
fight against discrimination and
prejudices often found in colleges
like those of the UC System.
It all started when Acufta's
application in December 1990 for
a position in the Chieano Studios
Department at the University of
California, Santa Barbara. When
the vote went up, three profes¬
sors strongly supported the ap¬
pointment and three abstained
alleging flaws in the process and
he was ultimately turned down.
After some investigation, sev¬
eral documents revealed that the
administration violated proce¬
dures and they engaged in
backroom governance about the
appointment Faculty, students,
and Acuna began to believe that
the denial was based on reasons
other than his scholarship.
In late November 1991, Dr.
Acufia filed a claim with the Cali¬
fornia State Department^ Fair
Employment and Hous&g, re¬
ceiving the right to sue. Three
months later, Santa Barbara had
it's biggest protest to date, with
many Chicanos marching down
State Street on the case.
After being taken on by the
Center for Constitutionally'
Rights, on September 25, 1992;
the complaint was filed in the
Alameda County Superior Coui i
In October, the case was moved
intofederal court withattempted
dismissals but Dr- Acufia even¬
tually ended up with federal and
statecases.
TheUC hired outside counsel
for the case, causing expenses to
• skyrocket for Acuna. It is esti¬
mated that the cost of this case
may exceed $7 million, much of
which could have been avoided
with a few negotiations outside
of court. In fact, Dr. Acufia has
made more than one attempt to"
settle but the UC has made that
impossible.
Over the course of the pro¬
ceedings, confidential reports
supplied from the UC clearly
stated that not only had the UC
sytem denied Dr. Acuftaemploy-
ment because of his politics, his
race, and his age, but also con¬
spired to intentionally destroy
his reputation.
Many conflicting statistics
about the number of Hispanic
faculty atUC Santa Barbara have
also been sited. In 1989, then
Chancellor Barbara Uehling
boasted of remarkable gains,
specifically Chieano faculty, that
have been made over the last
fifteen years. For example, the
UC claims mat th*y have in¬
creased minority faculty from 7
percent to 14 percent and the
percentage of minority adminis¬
trators have increased from IS
saeACUftA,page8
V
\
La Voz Staff Writers
FresnoState'sMEChA is look¬
ing for monitors to help with the
22nd Annual Chicago Youth
Conference to be held Saturday,
Jaunuary 14,1995.
Lastyear, over70highschools
and colleges participated in the
the 21st CYC
In previous years between
1600 and 1800 students have at¬
tended the conference.
Those in atterdance come
from throughout thestate of Cali¬
fornia.
Gabriel Hernandez, of Oak¬
land, will be the keynote speaker
for the conference.
The Chieano Youth Confer¬
ence offers its participants gen¬
eral interest workshops, career
workshops, keynote speakers,
college faire, and also present
mandatory college information.
There is also entertainment
Some of the previous general
workshops aire issues of La
Chicana, dropping out of High
School, Tea tro Xicano, Commu¬
nity In vovment, The Young Chi¬
eano Male, Chieano Youth &
Gangs, AIDS in the Chieano
Community, The ChicanoMove-
ment, Police Harrassment and
Chieano Human Rights.
Career woi^shops are offered
, in art, bilingual education, broad¬
cast journalism, criminology,
computer engineering, and edu¬
cation.
Speakers of the past have been
Jose Luis Barraza, Robert Perez,
Jiiari' Pllipe Herrera, and
Margarita Luna Robles.
Those interested inhelpingare
urged tocall Irene Serranoat292-
'^<i.
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9057.
JL
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Editorial 2
Chieano History 3
Fall 1994 in Review ...6
Dr. Loco 8
Las Posadas 8
La Voz Poetry .8
La Voz Brtofllnes.......8
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a? S " 4
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