Young’s departure will end long UCLA career

Young’s departure will end long UCLA career

By John Digrado

and Patrick Marantal

Daily Bruin Staff

It’s been the million dollar question in academic circles for
years. And Wednesday, Charles Young, who has served as UCLA’s
chancellor for 27 years, finally gave an answer.

"To everything there is a season … Having achieved my
ambitions goals for UCLA, it is time to hand over the reigns to new
leadership, while continuing to contribute to the university I love
in a different role," Young wrote in his farewell address to the
UCLA community.

Yet who would have known it would take him only eight years to
rise to the top?

After receiving his doctorate in political science from UCLA in
1960, Young immediately joined the ranks of the university
administration. In an auspicious beginning to a long and
distinguished administrative career, Young began as an assistant to
former UC President Clark Kerr.

Hand-picked by former UCLA Chancellor Franklin Murphy to assist
in the president’s office, Young moved rapidly up UCLA’s chain of
command. He later became the nation’s youngest chief executive of
any university at the age of 36.

"It was almost like primogeniture," said William Coblentz, a San
Francisco attorney and former UC regent in an interview with the
Los Angeles Times. "Murphy blessed him. It was almost like, ‘This
is my boy, he is my successor."

But as of June of 1997, Young’s extraordinary – and often
controversial – tenure of 27 years will come to a close.

From the onset of his career at UCLA, Young has been both lauded
and chastised for his administrative decisions. But supporters and
dissidents alike acknowledged Young’s unyielding principles.

"You don’t always agree with him, but you can admire him for …
the courage of his convictions," said law Professor Jonathan
Varat.

Within his first year as chancellor, Young faced one of the most
serious challenges of his career – whether or not to support Angela
Davis, an assistant professor of philosophy at UCLA.

Soon after she was hired in 1968, Davis revealed her Communist
political beliefs, much to the shock and dismay of the Board of
Regents.

Within a matter of months, pressure steadily built upon the new
chancellor to fire Davis on the basis of her political views. Young
held his ground, setting the stage for a year-long stand-off with
the regents.

The board finally fired Davis, but the incident remains a
definitive point in Young’s career, establishing his reputation as
a steadfast leader.

However, his position on many key issues in recent years has
caused some members of the public to question his ability to lead
the same university that he helped to build.

One of the foremost examples of Young’s controversial
decision-making occurred in spring of 1993, when he proposed
eliminating the Chicana/o Studies program due to budgetary
concerns. Hunger striker and neurobiology Professor Jorge Mancillas
alleged that Young was "buried under cynicism and arrogance" when
he refused to establish a Chicana/o Studies department.

In response to the proposal, angry students staged a widely
publicized hunger strike to protest his decision. The campus
erupted as a result of the decision, and ultimately, the two sides
reached a compromise, agreeing to create the César Chávez
Center for Interdisciplinary Instruction of Chicana and Chicano
Studies.

"I would have followed the same route," Young said upon reaching
an accord with the protesters. "I think anyone who knows me very
well knows I don’t take very well to threats … (or) to using the
public money to try to tell us how we ought to run the
university."

Prior to the Chicana/o Studies demonstrations, Young was
considered a frontrunner in a bid to assume the post of UC
president in 1992. After regents appointed Jack Peltason to the
position, student activists alleged that Young largely withdrew
from the campus community.

Since then, many have continued to accuse him of remaining
secluded within an "ivory tower," out of touch with the university
community he once so fervently defended.

However, the regents’ July decision to overturn affirmative
action within the UC system has brought Young back into the
limelight. His repeated defense of the preference program has
caused division on the UCLA campus, pitting proponents of the
policy against those who consider it "reverse racism."

"(Politicians) see this as a so-called ‘wedge issue’ that they
can use to drive between groups to their own political advantage,"
Young said in an address to students last April. "I am prepared to
speak out in opposition to that kind of position and in support of
affirmative action as it has been practiced in the university."

Young spoke before the Board of Regents in July hailing the
benefits of affirmative action and diversity, but the regents still
decided to do away with race and gender as criteria in hiring and
admissions.

As a result, he is currently active in forming an official
university outreach program to help underrepresented students
attend UCLA, similar to UC Berkeley’s "Berkeley Pledge."

Still, Young has also been credited with numerous accolades
throughout his career.

He successfully kept the UCLA campus under close scrutiny during
the late 1960s as other universities within the system erupted in
protest over the Vietnam war and civil rights.

And not only has Young built UCLA into one of the premier
research institutions in the United States, he has also led the
university through nearly 30 years of phenomenal and sustained
growth.

Chancellor Young will speak today in a public forum at 4:30 p.m.
in Schoenberg Auditorium.

Related Stories:

Young retire from UCLA

Uneasiness follows chancellor’s announcement

National search begins for new chancellor

Comments to [email protected]