One whole year has passed and our university’s president has not responded to the very important letter from the Chicano/Latino Studies Department, dated Oct. 24, 2006, wherein 13 faculty members respectfully requested his intervention in the Hispanic Serving Institution Grant implementation process.
A resounding “no-confidence” vote on the grant process by faculty did not sway President F. Alexander King to act on their concerns.
Furthermore, another student and I have publicly requested the president to intervene in this matter, but that too has not influenced him to do something.
What is really going on? What is the value level placed by Alexander about the concerns that Latino students and Latino faculty may have?
When reading his Op-Ed piece, on Oct. 16, 2006 in the Daily Forty-Niner, one would have thought it is of a high-value – wherein he mentions that the “…HSI Grant will seek to be inclusive and will not embrace exclusionary practices.”
However, it is apparent that this particular issue (by ignoring 13 faculty members and Latino/a students, who feel that they have raised a legitimate concern), is, by all means, being exclutionary.
I would like to stop writing op-ed pieces but the situation warrants it. We must value quality education at Cal State Long Beach.
Ignoring concerns by students and faculty only devalues it.
– Jaime Lopez
master of public administration graduate student
