SANTA BARBARA -- The new Chicano Studies doctoral program at University of California, Santa Barbara, was celebrated by hundreds shouting "Viva!" during a ceremony Monday.

UC Regent Dolores Huerta, a United Farm Workers founder and the event's guest speaker, said the Ph.D. program, the first of its kind in the nation, is a victory in the cause for equal rights.

"What's happening here today is such a big blow to racism in the country," Huerta said. "The only way to overcome racism is education."

The Ph.D. program was approved by the UC regents last July after years of student demonstrations, followed by years of administration and faculty preparations. The first scholars will enter the program in 2005.