On the eve of the funeral of Chicano hero Cesar Chavez last April, UCLA Chancellor Charles Young announced that the school had decided against creating a separate Chicano studies department. No other ethnic group had its own department, a university task force on the subject noted, and there was not enough academic substance to justify adding that one. Within days, however, 300 students -- equivalent to a tenth of the school's Chicanos and about 1% of total enrollment -- staged a protest that escalated into a window- breaking skirmish with police. Next came a hunger strike by five students and one...
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