Nearly 60 people attended a presentation Wednesday where Dorothy Baca, associate professor of theater and dance, said she is more qualified for the position of director of the Chicano/a Studies program than some may think.
Baca agreed to give a second presentation after a coalition of students and community members concerned about the program and the search for its future director expressed concern about the publicity and attention that was given to her first presentation.
"I have a passion for this program," Baca told the group of students, administrators, faculty and community members.
Baca, who is head of the Design for Performance in the Theatre and Dance Department, said she has done much to integrate Chicano perspectives and issues into her own department during the last two-and-a-half years, including arranging the production of a Hispanic-based theater performance and hiring an adjunct Chicana faculty member to teach department courses.
"I think the Chicano faculty here is spread pretty thin," Baca said.
She also explained to the group gathered at Dane Smith Hall that if appointed director, she would work with the program's steering committee to establish specific program goals, adjust the Chicano/a studies minor to better suit the needs of students and to further integrate the program's courses to get them cross listed with other campus academic programs.
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"We have to think of the future," Baca told the audience. "Everything else is in the past."
However, many UNM community members said that because Baca is the position's lone candidate produced by a search that seriously lacked student input, she may be perpetuating a system that has been keeping Chicanos suppressed for years.
Coalition members say that the program's steering committee failed to get the amount of student input it was charged with getting.
Baca argued that in most University programs, students are not given an opportunity to help select a new director or chairperson.
As Baca's presentation turned toward its question-and-answer session, coalition members further expressed some of their concerns regarding the program and its search for a new director. They requested that Baca withdraw her application for the director position and then reapply if the University agrees to a new national search.
"I am not stepping down," she told the group.
At least, she said, not until University administrators guarantee that they will conduct a national search. She added that if she steps down now with no national search on the horizon, then administrators will most likely appoint someone who could have less experience and no passion.
Baca said that she intends to listen closely to the concerns of students if she is appointed director.
But, some members of the audience said they felt Baca danced around some of their questions, even when asked multiple times.
"We felt that she was listening, but not hearing what we said," Avelina Mart°nez, undergraduate representative for the coalition, said. "We're serious about what we are doing here."
After coalition members reiterated their concerns that student input was not properly collected during the director search process, and Baca said that despite that concern, she thought the process was still valid, about 25 audience members simultaneously walked out of the presentation.
"I still don't think she was genuine," said David Padilla, a member of the coalition and co-chairman of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztl†n, a campus group also known as MEChA.
Although half of her audience was gone, Baca repeated that she thinks her passion and willingness to improve the program make her a quality selection for its director position.
The Chicano/a Studies program steering committee will meet next week to discuss Baca's application and what course of action to recommend to Peter White, dean of University College.
Members of the coalition said they will meet with UNM President Chris Garcia today at 11 a.m. to discuss their stance on the issue and to ascertain where the interim president stands on several issues facing the program.
