2008 Woodie Awards
Advocates demand answers at meeting
Ken Pitts
Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: News
For a few brief moments during yesterday's open forum on the university's new strategic plan, Latino students commandeered the floor.
Pressing administrators to approve a U.S. Latina/o studies program ten years in the works, students representing the initiative took up a microphone and shifted the subject of discussion to focus on where their program fits into the plan.
From a bloc of eight students standing in solidarity, the few who spoke asked Provost Nariman Farvardin why he has put so much energy into the strategic planning effort while their request for approval has remained tied in the university approval process.
The students' somewhat mutinous move met some success, when Phyllis Peres, associate provost for academic planning and programs, responded by announcing that the College of Arts and Humanities has approved the minor. But the answer only came after two impassioned pleas by the students.
"For more than ten years, we've been trying to push this Latino studies program," said Arelis Hernandez, a student spokesperson for the curriculum.
"And for ten years we've experienced a number of setbacks … and one of the things we keep hearing over and over again is that the university doesn't understand why we need a U.S. Latina/o studies program," said Hernandez, who formerly worked as a reporter for The Diamondback.
With laughter and applause from the crowd at the considerably audacious move, senior Evelyn Lopez, a criminal justice major and one of two students who has met the requirements to graduate this May with a minor in the unsanctioned program, took the floor as well. There, she asked Farvardin how he can push a plan full of global initiatives while a diversity-centered program sits on the administration's desk.
"We've worked really hard," Lopez said. "Are you just going to forget about the other minors that are trying to get put into place, or are you just going to give more initiative to [the strategic plan] and just kind of put everything aside?"
Pressing administrators to approve a U.S. Latina/o studies program ten years in the works, students representing the initiative took up a microphone and shifted the subject of discussion to focus on where their program fits into the plan.
From a bloc of eight students standing in solidarity, the few who spoke asked Provost Nariman Farvardin why he has put so much energy into the strategic planning effort while their request for approval has remained tied in the university approval process.
The students' somewhat mutinous move met some success, when Phyllis Peres, associate provost for academic planning and programs, responded by announcing that the College of Arts and Humanities has approved the minor. But the answer only came after two impassioned pleas by the students.
"For more than ten years, we've been trying to push this Latino studies program," said Arelis Hernandez, a student spokesperson for the curriculum.
"And for ten years we've experienced a number of setbacks … and one of the things we keep hearing over and over again is that the university doesn't understand why we need a U.S. Latina/o studies program," said Hernandez, who formerly worked as a reporter for The Diamondback.
With laughter and applause from the crowd at the considerably audacious move, senior Evelyn Lopez, a criminal justice major and one of two students who has met the requirements to graduate this May with a minor in the unsanctioned program, took the floor as well. There, she asked Farvardin how he can push a plan full of global initiatives while a diversity-centered program sits on the administration's desk.
"We've worked really hard," Lopez said. "Are you just going to forget about the other minors that are trying to get put into place, or are you just going to give more initiative to [the strategic plan] and just kind of put everything aside?"
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