1975 La Voz de Aztlan

              Evans opposed to more minority courses
By Larry Romero
Dr. Ralph Evans, Dean of the
School of Education, said that he
is "opposed in principle" tp a
change in the course structure
at CSUF that will require more
minority oriented courses in order to receive teaching credentials.
Evans was invited by the
Comite CHE (Chicanos in Education) of. MECHA to speak'on
the Ryan Act and its implementation at CSUF, according to
Marian Rodriguez Powers, chairperson.
In the two-hour-long meeting
before a standing room only
crowd on Dec. 19, Evans started
by explaining some of the technical aspects of the Ryan Act and
its differences to the Fisher Act
which it replaced. After approximately an hour of this the students
started to ask questions.
In regard to a campus-wide
committee that had been set up
by the school to study the implementation of the Ryan Act at
CSUF, senior Ricardo Rodriguez
asked Evans whether ethnic
make-up of the committee was
taken into consideration.
Evans answered he did not
know "specifically." "But there
are also other points of concern about the major (Liberal
Studies Major) as it now exists,"
said Evans, enthusiastically
pointing at the students.
Evans conceded that he had
resisted any change on how the
Ryan Act is being interpreted at
CSUF because he was concerned
about "getting the Ryan Act going."
"I'm certain it will be looked
at in the near future," he said,
referring to changes in the interpretation, of the act.
As it now stands, Evans said,
the school is allowed nine units
of required units in the professional sequence with which to
work.   Out  of these  nine units,
two units deal with the different
ethnic minorities which make up
the area's population. This, according to Evans, includes Native
Americans, Blacks, Chicanos,
Asian Americans, etc.
According to Powers, CHE disagrees with Evans' contention
that he can't change the professional sequence to meet ethnic
needs. She pointed out that programs in CSU, Northridge and
other campuses have implemented more relevant programs.
"The problem here is that this
school • doesn't want anything
ethnically oriented to go into its
program," she said.
Evans, upon questioning by Dr.
Jesus Luna of the La Raza Studies
Department, £r°id that the School
of Education is restricted to nine
units.
"I tell you that the teachers and
educators of this state feel this
is an extremely restrictive stipulation of this act," said Evans.
Another student, senior Cynthia
Lugo, asked why the program had
not been revamped if Evans felt it
was inadequate.
"We think what we are doing
now is essential and adequate,"
was Evans' answer. "Our staff
considers we are doing a pretty
good job with these nine units."
When asked why the Ryan Act
was replacing the Fisher Act,
Evans quoted the preamble to the
Ryan Act. It reads:
"The Legislature, recognizing
the need for excellence in education and the variety and vitality
of California's many educational
resources, intends to set broad
minimum standards and guidelines for teacher preparation and
licensing to encourage both high
standards and diversity."
Another member of MECHA
asked whether the school's interpretation was to follow the
technical aspects of thelawrath-
than the spirit of that law.
"Sir, I believe you are right.
We have to wait and see how it's
working out, you might be right,"
said Evans.
After telling the students that
he was opposed only in principle
to any university changes, Evans
said, "We are told students are
totally uninformed," then catching
himself, he said, "uh, well, maybe
not totally uninformed." There
was a groan from the audience.
Trying to show that there were
other important areas in education that the school had to deal
with, the dean alluded to the fact
that a course in children's literature was also needed and that
electives were available in this
area.
"We aren't talking about children's literature," said Powers,
"we are talking about situations
like when an Anglo teacher holds
a knife under a Chicano student
and other such incidents!"
Evans tried to interject another analogy concerning the need
for health education, but other
students interrupted by saying,
"Dr. Evans, you are not helping
at all."
Another student asked if it was
true that he (Dr. Evans) would be
leaving in June. Evans replied it
was. At this the audience started
to clap and cheer.      .
DR.RALPH EVANS
La Vozde
Aztlan
A   special   edition  of   THE   DAILY   COLLEGIAN
California State University, Fresno
LXXIX/70
FRI DAY, JANUARY 1 0, 1975
Rodriguez disagrees with Chicano solons on Obledo issue
By Cynthia Lugo
Fresno County Supervisor Armando Rodriguez believes the
real objection two Chicano assemblymen have to Gov. Edmund
G. Brown's appointment ofMario
Obledo as secretary of the state
health and welfare agency is not
his failure to consult them, but
that Obledo is not from California.
Rodriguez said he was dismayed by the statement Richard
Alatorre, D-Los Angeles, and Art
Tores, D-Monterey Park, made
criticizing Brown's appointment
as "an example of undemocratic
conduct" and "secrecy." The
statement did not criticize Obledo, a professor on leave from
the Harvard Law School, and a
former assistant attorney gen-
eralof Texas.
In a letter to the governor,
Rodriguez said he was dismayed
by the statement, and praised
the governor for appointing Oble
do to the high post.
A spokesman for Alatorre said
the governor prides himself on
having an open and responsive
administration, but has proved
little different from Nixon and
Reagan in making appointments.
The assemblymen want to know
what criteria was used in selecting Obledo. "If it were Ronald
Reagan, no ohe would think twice
about it," said.the aide.
The aide said that the assemblymen voiced the view of many
in Sacramento. The issue also
concerns other appointments, although no one else has publicly
criticized the appointment system, he said.
The aide said there was very
little feedback, and hardly anything negative.
Rodriguez said the comments
he- heard in the Fresno area and
around the state are unfavorable
to the assemblymen's criticism,
which came during Brown's first
five days in office.
Rodriguez also said in his letter that nothing in the statement
criticized Obledo's education,
ezperience or integrity, and he
further felt that Obledo was highly qualified for the job.
Jose Torres, political advisor
to MECHA, felt the governor did
not need to consult the assemblymen since he has a capable Chicano on his screening committee.
"We put our trust in Brown,"
he said. "It's a good appointment."
1971   mural sets precedent
STUDENTS REACT to wall mural on south side of Art-Home Ec
building, painted by students in Professor Ernesto Palomino's art
class in 1971. Photo by George Wada.
By Cynthia Lugo
The CSUF campus, it turns out,
already offers a precedent for the
sponsors of a campaign to decorate building walls with huge
outdoor murals.
Since 1971, the south wall of
the art-home-ec building has
been decorated with a mural
which was painted by three students in Professor Ernie Palomino's studio art class in La
Raza Studies program.
Palomino wants the new murals
to "be a professional work of
art, not just paint on the wall."
The three people who painted the
mural were not art majors, said
Palonimo.
The students had to get per-'
mission from the maintenance
department to operate heavy
equipment, such as ladders and
scaffolding. They then divided
the   mural  into  three  sections.
The middle section, which was
started first, depicts a pre-
Columbian image, which looks
like   the  face  of some  ancient
Indian idol. The student projected
a slide of a drawing on the building and then sketched the outline.
The two other students worked
on more current ideas, said
Palomino. "Picasso had just
died," he said, "and they were
working with cubist ideas Picasso had. It was like a dedication to Picasso. The three panels
were done with primitive figures
that would tie in together, with the
center as the focal point."
Other students had attempted to
paint the wall, and there were a
few sketches, but no one had
ever completed the project, said
Palomino.
He said the wall was looked
upon as a place where art students
could paint on the wall, since it
was the art building.
Palomino does not believe in
fust slapping paint on buildings,
he believes in planning and growing with the work of art.
This planning and growth process is one reason why he feels
the administration is going about
making a decision backwards.
The project needs approval by
the executive dean, the Monumental Art Committee, the Campus Planning Committee, the
President of the University, and
the Chancellor's Office for presentation to the Board of Trustees.
"We could be there forever
showing sketches. An artist is
always changing," said Palomino.
"We need variety and growth
while the teacher and class is
involved so it can be a universal
statement."
Palomino would like to see
other art instructors become involved with the murals, which
are planned for the walls of
the Speech Arts building. The
murals would be multi-media,
which includes ceramics, wood
and metal in addition to painting.
"This campus lends itself to
murals beautifully because of the
open space," said Palomino.
"There is a lot of space on campus but there is nothing happening to tt artistically."