An Inclusive Litany
10/13/97
When Alvero Cardona applied for a $9.61-an-hour tutoring job at UCLA's
Academic Advancement Program, he was prepared to talk about his
academic honors, his previous experience tutoring at another college,
and how his immigrant background might help him tutor "historically
under-represented students." But he wasn't prepared for a loyalty
oath. During his job interview, Cardona says, he wasn't asked a single
question related to his subject. Instead the interviewer asked him,
"How do you feel about affirmative action?" and "Do you believe
that there is institutional racism at UCLA?" Cardona said he hadn't
experienced racism when he attended UCLA and told the interviewer that
he was ambivalent about affirmative action, believing the policy "can
be carried too far." Cardona says he didn't get the job because he
"couldn't understand the needs of AAP students."