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the 1960's   El Movimiento En UCLA Conference: June 5, 1999

The 1990's The 1990's have been a time of continual political effort, on and off the UCLA campus. The political environment of the 90's was the foundation for a revived student and community collaboration in a long-standing tradition of resistance. A continuum of unanswered Raza student concerns remain at the forefront of the efforts for change at UCLA. Despite the continuity in student demands of the 90's from the beginnings of the Chicano Movement, we see a stratification of student efforts and splintering of student goals and objectives to compose a new vision for change that challenges traditional notions of consciousness and identity. In 1990, student interest in Chicano Studies was renewed by a UCLA faculty committee that cited the program as weak and recommended suspension of new student admission into the major. Fears that the program would be dismantled mobilized student activists to gain commitment from the University to strengthen the program and renewed interest in the major. In April of 1993 student efforts at UCLA to change the status of the Chicana/o Studies unit from a center to a department were set back by Chancellor Charles E. Young in an announcement that it would not receive departmental status on the eve of Cesar Chavez's funeral. An announcement that mobilized students to take over the faculty center on campus, resulting in near one hundred students arrested and damages that were estimated between 35,000 and 50,000 dollars. These events led to several demonstrations that reached a hiatus of one thousand people and began a hunger strike that involved highly recognized members of the community to support the student efforts, including actor Edward James Olmos, State Senators Tom Hayden and Art Torres, Reps. Lucille Roybal-Allard and Xavier Becerra, and Assembly women Hilda L. Solis and Mothers of East LA. The effort resulted in one of the largest student and community mobilizations on the UCLA campus of the decade.

Increased political attack on our communities on a state level continued to provide the impetus for community and student organizing. Prop 187 in 1994 attacked immigrant rights to health services. In 1996, Prop. 209 dismantled Affirmative Action programs for hiring and college admission processes, leaving an impairing wound on the UCLA campus with the implementation of the UC Regent amendments SP-1 and SP-2. Proposition 227 on the 1998 ballot, dismantled bilingual education programs that significantly impact the Spanish speaking communities of the state. All of these state propositions against minorities and specifically Raza communities reflected the conservative leadership in search of scapegoats. Despite the efforts by students and communities to unite in counterattack, the efforts were lacking and we saw all of the propositions passed by voters. Chicanas/os become intensely active in campus and UC system wide politics, including Regent lobbying. While the political environment was calling for unity in struggle, shifts within student movements were inevitable. The student movement at UCLA saw a continual disagreement in the goals and objectives of traditional organizations, becoming a time for the flourishing of Raza organizations that were redefining their membership and working toward more specific issues. The restructuring of the student movement at UCLA witnessed the birth of organizations such as Society of Latino Engineers and Scientists, Latino Business Student Association Chicanos/Latinos for Community Medicine and Raza Artistas del Pueblo. The specialization of the Raza organizations becomes reflective of the wide spectrum of issues students face and changing demographics of California, which become reflective of organizations that are not based on Chicano identity and are more encompassing. Exemplary of this is the creation of Latin American Student Association, which primarily addresses student concerns from Central and South America. The evolving student goals and visions has altered the University Raza community. Within the air of change on our campus, we see strong movements to establish organizations that identify and serve specific issues by our Mujeres and our Gay brothers and sisters because of neglect or lack of commitment by traditional organizations. Raza Women, Latinas Guiding Latinas and Mujeres Unidas provide a supportive space for issues specific to women. La Familia becomes a strong support system and advocate for our Raza's gay community. Consciousness in the 90's is redefined by a new student vision. It not only refers to political views, but for some in the movement, it also means that we need to consider the Mujer point of view and the Gay community's concerns as part of our community's concerns regardless of our own gender and sexual orientation. (J.U.) El Movimiento Home Page Table of Contents Back Next

History, Youth, Power and Change Team Research Project. Copyright © 1999 [History, YPC]. All rights reserved. Last Revised: April 4, 2000.