Chancellor faces tough questions at meeting

  CATHERINE JUN Ghaith Mahmood, president
of the Muslim Student Association, protests during Chancellor
Albert Carnesale’s town hall meeting.

By Robert Salonga
Daily Bruin Contributor

Chancellor Albert Carnesale endured criticisms and was the
subject of a walk-out during a town hall meeting in Ackerman Union
on Tuesday.

During the public meeting, the chancellor fielded questions from
members of the UCLA community regarding the BruinGo! bus program,
UC President Richard Atkinson’s recent proposal to drop SAT I
scores from admissions requirements and the possible repeal of SP-1
and 2, 1995 measures which eliminated affirmative action in
university admissions and hiring.

The chancellor also addressed issues dealing with Professor
Joshua Muldavin’s denial of tenure, same-sex couples’
difficulty in finding university housing and the possible freezing
of student group funds in case a decision was not made by the
Undergraduate Student Association Council to amend its bylaws.

The meeting, with an audience of about 80 people, was moderated
by Graduate Student Association President Martin Griffin and USAC
President Elizabeth Houston.

Carnesale said SAT I scores already bear little weight in
UCLA’s admissions process.

“We have been moving toward a more comprehensive process
in admissions,” Carnesale said.

He said he is reevaluating the BruinGo! bus program’s
effectiveness in reducing demand for parking on campus.

In regards to the tenure process, he said it was set by the UC
system, not UCLA.

Carnesale also said the shortage of housing in general makes it
difficult for all graduate couples, not just those of the same sex,
to find university housing.

Regarding the possible freezing of student funds, he said he
would rather let USAC work with administration before intervening
himself.

But the most heated debate occurred over the issue of SP-1 and
2, measures the UC Regents passed in 1995 that eliminated
affirmative action in university admission and hiring
practices.

While the regents may repeal the measures, the ban on
affirmative action would still be in place because of Proposition
209, the ballot initiative passed by California voters.

“The repeal of SP-1 and SP-2 would be solely symbolic
because Proposition 209 is the law,” Carnesale said.

“I would prefer that SP-1 and SP-2 were not on the books,
but at the same time, I am not prepared to pay a substantive price
in diversity for that,” he continued, adding that it is up to
the Regents to decide whether to repeal the measures.

Supporters of the repeal protested Carnesale’s stance.

Carrying signs with quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr. and a
poster-sized petition for support of the repeal, protesters stood
on both sides of Carnesale while some students spoke and others
yelled at the chancellor.

“This is the most crucial issue at UCLA today,” said
Li’i Furumoto, a history student.

“It’s an issue of social justice,” she
added.

Furumoto questioned Carnesale’s leadership and demanded he
sign the petition, which had on it a pre-written statement of his
support for the repeal.

Carnesale refused to sign, stating it was partly because of the
way he was addressed. Furumoto yelled loudly as Griffin
continuously attempted to moderate the discussion.

But when protesters had a different member ask him to sign the
petition ““ this time in a calmer manner ““ Carnesale
still refused to sign.

The group then stated they would walk out of the meeting because
of Carnesale’s refusal, emptying out more than half the
room.

The meeting concluded shortly thereafter.

Houston said there could have been a more productive and mature
way to hold a dialogue with the chancellor.

Despite the walk-out, some responded to the town hall meeting
positively.

“I think it was very effective and gave the chancellor a
chance to respond to urgent issues,” Griffin said.

Bob Naples, vice chancellor of student and campus life and dean
of students, said the outburst may have been more detrimental than
helpful to the protesters’ cause.

“Sometimes the disruption tends to overshadow the
importance of their issues,” he said.

But Furumoto said the reason for the outburst and subsequent
walk-out was to get Carnesale to publicly state his support for
repealing SP-1 and 2.

“To say wait and to tell us to calm down is to say
never,” Furumoto said. “We did this just as much to let
people know how we felt and that this is a major issue.”