Monterey Park, Calif.
East Los Angeles College (ELAC) is the
site of a controversy that many people have seen coming for a long
time. It revolves around what appears to be an academic battle over
turf.
The Chicano Studies department here has proposed a class called
“Central Americans: The New Chicanos.” However, the Social Science
department has challenged the right of the Chicano Studies department
to propose such a class.
Sybil Venegas, chair of the Chicano Studies department, does not
see it as a territorial dispute. However, she does acknowledge there is
a growing conflict between her department and that of Consuelo Rey, the
chair of the Social Science department.
“What we have done is provocative,” says Venegas, who adds, “We
don’t think the administration has a problem with what we’re doing.”
For her part, Rey, a former Chicano studies professor, says she is not anti-Chicano studies.
“I am co committed to the discipline,” says Rey. “The question of
who should be teaching a Central American class and which department
the class should be taught from is real and relates to legal and
contract issues. It’s a duplication of what we offer. It’s a
bread-and-butter issue.”
