Students to help choose UCLA’s vice chancellor of diversity
By Janet Nguyen
April 2, 2014 1:04 a.m.
Four months after announcing a new vice chancellor for diversity, UCLA is looking for two students to be on a committee to find someone to fill the position.
The new search and advisory committee, which administrators expect to finalize by the end of spring quarter, will aid the university in a search for the new Vice Chancellor of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Chancellor Gene Block created the position in December in response to concerns about racial and ethnic discrimination on campus.
Administrators expect to fill the position during the 2014-15 academic year, said UCLA spokesman Steve Ritea in an email statement.
“I can tell you that creating a new vice chancellorship is no small undertaking. Many people across campus are involved and there’s a real commitment to get it right – that takes time,” Ritea said in the email statement. “We want to make sure whomever assumes this post has all of the tools they need and that the right structure is in place in order to succeed.”
Ritea said he doesn’t know exactly who will constitute the committee’s membership besides the one undergraduate student and one graduate student set to sit on the committee.
John Joanino, president of the undergraduate student government, and Nicole Robinson, president of the Graduate Students Association, said they will select candidates based on their commitment to diversity-related issues and their ability to accurately represent the concerns of students on campus.
Joanino and Robinson will each select three candidates for administrators to choose from, Ritea said.
Chancellor Gene Block and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Scott Waugh will make the final decision in selecting the vice chancellor with input from campus leaders and other members of the community, Ritea said.
In recent months, some students have expressed concerns about the selection of the new vice chancellor.
Student organizations have publicly called for administrators to include their input in the search for the new vice chancellor position. GSA passed a resolution in March with a clause asking officials to allow for their inclusion in the selection of the post and in defining the chancellor’s role.
The UCLA Asian Pacific Coalition also held a townhall in February asking for UCLA administrators to include them in selecting the new administrator.
The new vice chancellor position stemmed partly from a report released in October. Spearheaded by former California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno, the report found that UCLA policies and procedures for handling racial and ethnic discrimination, bias and intolerance among faculty members were inadequate.
The Moreno report called for UCLA to institute an official discrimination officer position, which the university decided to create after the report came out.
Two months later, Block announced the new vice chancellor position.
The university now has plans to select two discrimination officers and has advertised postings, which expired Monday, for the positions.
Joanino said he was initially concerned about officials’ efforts to fill the vice chancellor position following Block’s announcement.
“I thought there wasn’t much follow-up once the position was announced and that momentum was being lost,” Joanino said.
He added that he thinks the search process is now beginning to effectively progress and wants there to be widespread outreach about what the vice chancellor position will entail.
But Joanino said he thinks two students are not enough to represent the diversity of the campus.
Undergraduate students can apply online by April 4 through an application created by the Undergraduate Students Association Council Office of the President. Graduate students can apply on the Graduate Students Association website by April 6.
