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To: The Governing Board Of Regents Of The University Of California Re: Protecting the autonomy of student organizations Background Bad Instruction Bad Retention Bad Outreach Stress During Finals Shakedown Coverup Remedy Credentials in Dance Instruction and Direction BackGround "This is completely misleading." Mike Rotkin, UCSC Community Studies Field Studies Coordinator when shown the course description for Anthropology 81A and LALS 81A. Members of the student folklorico organization "Los Mejicas De UCSC" and non-students are doing the teaching for Anthropology 81A and LALS 81A while credit is claimed by Professor Olga Najera-Ramirez. Students teaching receive no pay and no academic credit for their work. They have no professional background in dance instruction or dance direction. In the late 90's the professor, then an advisor to the group, arranged for members to receive credit for participating in Los Mejicas if they chose. This was not discussed, negotiated, or voted upon by the Los Mejicas membership. The professor has no professional credentials as a dance instructor or director. Bad Instruction "Nothing is changed." stated the professor. Since then, Los Mejicas has devolved from an excellent dance company known for tight spirited performances and a strong commitment to the local community, to a weak third rate activity known in the Social Science division as "Olga's class." Los Mejicas only performs as a full company for 2 performances at the end of the year. Dancing twice as much material as they can handle eliminates the need for guest performers and their directors. Everything is kept "in-house". During the first few years of this program, student directors broke their hearts trying to maintain the tradition of excellent performance during the year while covering the excessive amount of material required for the concert. Every community or university dance organization that I have seen balances its repertoire between the desire for fresh material and the understanding that survival depends upon effective performance. In addition to cutting back on performance, the non-professional instruction is now accelerated beyond what beginning dancers can handle. Bad Retention Statistically 2 out 5 Latinos will flunk out. Of the 5 men who showed up in September 2007 for the first time, we lost: Gillermo Javier Omar Oscar We have kept (so far): Leo These five students came to us not primarily to dance, but to find a human connection. A bond. A family. The hope in their eyes in September slowly dulled. We ran them right out the door. We are a drop-out factory. We retain 2 men every 4 years, one man out of the 20 who come to us. I can remember when there were 12 to 14 men in rehearsals. Advanced dancers generally leave because of the lack of good company performances. The quality has degraded to the point where we received no invitations to perform on Cinco De Mayo 2006. I have never in 10 years of folklorico heard of a company that did not receive invitations to perform on Cinco De Mayo. Extra rehearsals are required for the "small" performances. Material from past years is usually used because this year's material will not be ready until right before the concert. First year people generally do not volunteer, do not get to dance. Every other company has something simple to get people into performance immediately, by October at the latest. Los Mejicas was a kind of family, a home away from home. Now it is a "class". A group like Los Mejicas is the best possible antidote to the alienation and disconnect that precede flunking out of school. The bonding in a performance company has been compared to that of people in combat. This means monthly performances by the whole team throughout the year. Weekly for some. A recital once a year looks good on paper but does not do the job. Bad Outreach The bad "teaching" methods that have mutated from an impossible learning load are taken by Mejicas members into the community to teach kids. Without the lavish UCSC funding, these programs have failed and Mejicas members have gotten their hearts broken. Again. When we do perform for schools we typically have around 8 members performing. Performing as 1 or 2 couples, not at all together in impressive formations. Performances in the community used to function as effective outreach. Community leaders I have spoken with feel that they have been abandoned for ivory tower agendas. They miss Los Mejicas. You can hear the hurt in their voices. On campus, "small" performances by volunteers are few and ineffectual. One student did not join Los Mejicas until senior year because, "I didn't know." (of the group's existence.) The most demoralizing aspect is the way the students are formatted into a culture of mediocrity. They do not realize that they are capable of doing A level work because "program" teaches them that their best efforts produce C level results. A Students plus "A" people + "F" Program = "C" results. The appearance of UC endorsement means that students blame themselves. On paper it all looks good. The funding is not indexed to oversight by performance professionals. Academic entities are free to invent valuable career credentials as dance impresarios. Stress During Finals The other ethnic groups are finished with their Spring Concerts by mid to late April. Los Mejicas puts its people through a grueling schedule during May. What should be a demanding but enjoyable study break is now an unnecessary stressor. During Spring quarter, before and during finals, far too many rehearsals are called. Other UCSC dance groups like Haluan and Sabrosura have their material mastered by early spring quarter and complete their spring concert well before finals. Every other ethnic group at UCSC presents a balanced program of dance, song, instrumentals, skits etc. The learning burden is appropriate to students taught by peer instructors in a student "org.". Shakedown Los Mejicas performances at the Theatre Main Stage have usually been about half full. I just found out after 10 years that the $15.00 we have been paying for practice CD's is making up the shortfall. We have been paying to play. Following this example, a student co-director required Los Mejicas members to buy $10 worth of lottery tickets for the Multi Cultural Festival with which she was involved. Lotteries are illegal so the lottery was called something else. The money paid a name musical act that played in the evening. Mejicas played at 1:30 p.m. Paying to play again. A leader using Los Mejicas to bolster her resume. A cascading culture of corruption. Coverup The "studies" conducted by the Dean did not address any of the above problems. Those responsible held colloquy and determined that they had overlooked nothing. Although I have extensive credentials as a dance director, and made the initial complaint (orally to the Regents) I was not interviewed. Aside from some letters, my website was not perused, they said. Real performance professionals were not contacted for their opinions . You can't be held responsible for a problem of which you claim ignorance. The celebrated cover-ups of our time involve initially small infractions followed by a "lack of transparency" and public outrage at the arrogance of those abusing a power position. Remedy A wholesale enrollment process academically crediting work in student organizations is an excellent idea. Code is needed to assure autonomy for student organizations by providing checks and balances. The very real power of tenured professors with their own career agendas cannot be ignored. A UC system-wide policy is needed protect student organizations from being appropriated by unqualified careerists. Credentials in Dance Instruction and Direction Faculty at USC Workshops at UCLA, CSU San Luis Obispo, UCSC Extensive dance instruction for LA Community Colleges Square Dance Calling Directed dance teams performing everywhere in the LA area from Disneyland to basketball courts to rodeos. The lack of returning students led to community people assuming most leadership positions in Los Mejicas. After my speaking to the regents, UCSC adopted new rules limiting official membership to enrolled students. We community/alumni are now a resource, as is right. This small step took me 10 heavily contested years. I am fully prepared to advocate for another 10 years to assure autonomy for Los Mejicas and all other student organizations. These programs are very important. More detail at <www.erikhansen.org> Erik Hansen Porter College 1996, UCSC erikhansen@ucscalumni.com http://www.youtube.com/erikhans08
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