Program faces series of uncertainties

  PRIYA SHARMA/Daily Bruin Professor Joshua
Muldavin, who will teach in New York, speaks at his final
town hall meeting.

By Terri Aquino
Daily Bruin Contributor

The future head of the international development studies program
remains uncertain as seven-year chair Joshua Muldavin leaves his
post.

With Muldavin’s departure adding to the precarious
situation the department has found itself in over the years ““
including budget cuts, overbooked classes and departmental changes
““ students and faculty are working to prevent similar
incidents in the future.

Muldavin, who was denied tenure last year, is in a continuing
grievance procedure with the university and has accepted a position
as the Henry J. Luce chair of Asian studies and Chinese geography
at Sarah Lawrence College in New York City starting Jan. 1,
2002.

Involved in IDS since its establishment in 1987, Muldavin was
responsible for the support and focus of the major.

“He fought for funding and to maintain integrity in the
program. We are losing a dynamic professor,” said fourth-year
IDS and Spanish student Christine Riordan.

Faculty Advisory Committee student representatives Riordan and
Heather Putnam on Wednesday made their concerns clear to FAC, a
group of professors in varying disciplines that presents issues to
the administration and will aid in finding a replacement for
Muldavin.

With limited funds ““ resulting in limited classes ““
students can’t be assured the core IDS classes they need to
graduate will be available.

“We are continually confronted with obstacles,”
Riordan said. “Students haven’t been able to get
answers “¦ our core classes are only guaranteed until the end
of this year.”

Last fall, IDS juniors and seniors found their core classes, IDS
100A and 100B, had been cancelled.

With the backlash of student concern, Muldavin and the FAC
negotiated with the administration to reinstate the classes.

Future funding for the department will be determined at the end
of the academic year, Muldavin said.

Some say the needs of students have been all but neglected. IDS
students, Muldavin said, are not only committed but exceptional,
with above-average GPAs.

“Being IDS majors means you are studying many of the
issues that lay at the heart of global conflicts throughout the
world-immense inequalities in the distribution and concentration of
wealth “¦ newly evolving and pernicious forms of human
exploitation,” Muldavin said.

IDS was switched from the joint title of social sciences
department and the international studies overseas program to the
complete jurisdiction of ISOP this year. The lack of stability
diminished the magnitude of the program, students say.

“In Europe, IDS is a major discipline. Here, people see it
as any other major,” said third-year IDS and history student
Christopher Neal.

“IDS is essential to understand the world right
now,” he continued.

With an increasing amount of students declaring an IDS major
each year ““ the program has grown from 20 students in 1994 to
nearly 300 since January of last year ““ the study is gaining
significance in the UCLA community and attracting students from
various countries.

Japanese exchange student Tomo Hamano, a third-year IDS student,
came to UCLA because of the strength of the IDS program.

“There are very few schools in the U.S. that offer this
major, and I chose UCLA for IDS because I had heard much about it
from other people abroad,” Hamano said.

In a speech closing his last IDS town hall meeting at UCLA
Thursday, Muldavin discussed the importance of development studies
after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Understanding the ideology of opposing views, which is one of
the goals of IDS, could lead to more lasting solutions for all
parties involved, Muldavin said.