In a Sept. 24 memorandum, Provost Kim Wilcox recommended moving the program’s supervision from the College of Social Science to a group of six college deans, including Baba. Several deans said a date has not been set for the group’s first meeting.

“The provost recognized that it is a challenge to have responsibility for a program whose faculty and students are not only in one dean’s college, but across several colleges,” Baba said. “This goes beyond the College of Social Science.”

A closed-door meeting among MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon and a group of CLS faculty, graduate and undergraduate students concerned about Contreras and Baba’s oversight of the program is scheduled Wednesday.

Baba will be joined in the program’s new administration by deans of the colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Arts and Letters, Communication Arts and Sciences, Residential College in the Arts and Humanities and James Madison College.

In the memorandum, Wilcox said he believes the future of CLS hinges on whether officials can increase and broaden its student and faculty participation.

“I want to thank Dean Baba for her work over the past few years in advocating for faculty and student support. … The future of the program, however, seems tied to broader participation,” he said.

Including multiple people in the guidance of CLS is not a new concept for program officials.

CLS operated with two directors — one in charge of the graduate program and the other responsible for the undergraduate program — until about 2008. An Academic Program Review committee recommended eliminating the graduate program position because of the confusion it caused for central administrators, Baba said.

But CLS officials don’t expect to see similar confusion stemming from the new administrative structure.

Contreras said including more college deans in the oversight of CLS makes it easier to attract more faculty members to the program.

Contreras has met with Baba at least once a month to discuss CLS since beginning a three-year contract in 2008. Contreras said she doesn’t know whether she will meet with the group or each dean individually.

“One of my primary objectives has always been to broaden participation in the Chicano/Latino Studies program, so this seems to me a big move in that direction,” Contreras said.

Several departments and academic programs include cross-college administration, according to the memorandum. No specific programs were mentioned. Wilcox could not be reached for comment.