By Jacob Carpenter
The State News

Published: March 25, 2009

Animosity between the MSU Chicano/Latino Studies program director and students over the director’s performance will be the subject of an investigation by a College of Social Science task force in the coming weeks after students called for her job.

About 30 people — most of them affiliated with the Chicano/Latino Studies program — vented frustration with Sheila Contreras, the program’s director, in a meeting with social science dean Marietta Baba on Wednesday.

The students said Contreras has attempted to dismantle the Chicano/Latino Fellows Program, a mentorship project, and has disrespected students who complained about her job performance.
The students also said Contreras has received a vote of no confidence from staff and students, restricted access to office space typically open to Chicano/Latino Studies students, been unresponsive to communication made by students and created a list of troublemakers who have been critical of her.

“We’re trying to work with it and put in our input as much as we could, but the fact is that this semester, we basically saw the elimination of the Fellows Program and her attitude was getting worse and we were systematically getting shut out of the office,” said Gabriela Alcázar, an international relations and social relations and policy junior who is part of the Chicano/Latino Studies program.

“We were trying to work around stuff before and compromise, but she wasn’t listening to anything that anyone was saying.”

Contreras denied claims that there are plans to cut the Chicano/Latino Fellows Program and said she has been responding to student complaints. She added she didn’t know the details of the problems students had identified regarding access to office space reserved for the program in South Kedzie Hall and denied allegations of creating a “troublemaker list.”

Contreras referred questions related to a vote of no confidence and her process of responding to students’ complaints to the College of Social Science’s dean’s office.

“We have a pretty good process going to look at the student concerns and to respond to them in the most generous and professional way,” Contreras said.

The students called for Baba to make a decision on Contreras’ job security by April 1.

Baba said she hopes the task force of nine people will be assembled by April 1. No action will be taken against Contreras until the committee presents its findings, Baba said. Contreras began a three-year contract with the university in August and can’t be fired without just cause, she said.
Baba said she wants the committee to decipher the truth about allegations made against Contreras and find whether Contreras has support.

Students in attendance Wednesday said undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty members have expressed a vote of no confidence involving Contreras, but Baba said she has not received a formal declaration.

“I was presented with a sheet of paper saying there was a vote of no confidence, but there were no names attached to it, so I don’t know who’s supporting her and who’s not supporting her,” Baba said.

“I got a statement that people had crossed their names off. I heard that people’s names were put on it that didn’t want their names on it. I can’t even tell who’s on whose side.”
Baba said interviews will be conducted to determine whether claims of a vote of no confidence are valid.

“I need some real experts to go and really find out, ‘are a majority supporting or not supporting her?’” Baba said.

Published on Wednesday, March 25, 2009