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news:
Veterans assemble
by conciliation agreement
By Danielle Grossman
Summer Forty-Niner
The Cal State Long
Beach Veteran's Advisory Group assembled for its first meeting
on Wednesday afternoon in BH-391 as required by a conciliation
agreement signed in January.
Under the Vietnam
Era Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, CSULB -- a federal
institution -- is required to provide an affirmative action
program for Vietnam era veterans. After a six-year process,
in which the veterans have tried to get CSULB to comply with
the act, a Conciliation Agreement between the U.S. Department
of Labor, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs,
and CSULB was signed.
The agreement required
CSULB to create an advisory group, distribute an invitation
to all employees that would allow them to self-identify as
Vietnam-era veterans, and describes the law and its benefits.
After two steering
committee meetings in April and June, the advisory group met
officially Wednesday to discuss goals and guidelines.
"[The purpose]
was to try to set up ground rules," Troy Johnson, veterans'
advisor, said, "and to let veterans express their concerns."
Several veterans
were in attendance, as well as Armando Contreras, executive
assistant to the president, and Jan Reyes, interim director
of Equity and Diversity. Johnson conducted the meeting.
The advisory group
is designed to notify CSULB President Maxson of any violations
or failure to comply with regulations of veteran's affairs
on campus that come to the attention of the committee. However,
the advisory group has no authority to act.
"I think we
have to develop well-defined goals," Johnson said, "and
if we do, the president will respond."
At the meeting,
an introduction was made by Johnson before he directed each
veteran to comment about their personal goals and objectives
for the advisory group.
"I will do
whatever is necessary to see [Conciliation Agreement] regulations
upheld," said Walter Moore, a professor of communicative
disorders and Vietnam-era veteran.
Dave Nelson, a
photographer for University Publications and Vietnam-era veteran
agreed.
"Where is
[the university's] plans to put vets on a fast track,"
he said, "to put vets in the training programs they should've
been in years ago? There's no reason that this university
can't do what it should've done by law."
After personal
remarks were made, two subcommittees were formed for self-identification
and training. The self-identification subcommittee was created
to handle issues that might arise from the recent invitation
to self-identify that was sent to all CSULB employees. The
training subcommittee is designed to cover issues regarding
the training of supervisors about the act and its benefits
and to inform Vietnam-era veterans that they may receive job
training, as provided by the act.
The meeting was
adjourned after the subcommittees had been designated. However,
some veterans are wary as to whether any further action will
be taken by the administration.
"We've done
this before," Moore said, "and we discussed the
same things. Here we are five years later, discussing the
same things."
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