Mexico authorities ready to retake occupied university rectory

Los Angeles Times, 4/23/13

Mexico’s top law enforcement agencies said Tuesday that they were poised to order the removal of a group of masked individuals who have occupied the main administrative building of the national university since Friday. The occupation of the university’s rectory tower is linked to a relatively minor political dispute at one of the campus’ public feeder high schools, yet the incident has struck a nerve at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, or UNAM by its Spanish acronym, which has an enrollment of more than 330,000 students this year.

Students have gathered outside the rectory to vigorously debate the merits of the building’s occupation. Some argue in support of those inside; others say their right to an education is being infringed.

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Declining Interest In ‘Chicano Studies’ Reflects A Latino Identify Shift

KPBS, 3/6/2013

On the campus of San Diego State University recently, Sandy Chavez, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, said, without hesitation, that she thinks of herself primarily as American.

Yes, she is Latina, of Mexican heritage. She’s visited family in Mexico, and on weekends as a child she woke up to her parents playing Mexican music on the stereo. But she’s never described herself principally as Mexican or Latina, much less Chicana, a term preferred by many young Mexican-Americans in the 1960s and 70s.

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ASU continues process of opening campus in Mexico

Today’s THV, 1/24/2013

After receiving authorization in December from the Board of Trustees to proceed with negotiations for an Arkansas State University campus in Mexico, Chancellor Tim Hudson traveled to Mexico to consult with project advocates and partners in the State of Queretaro.

Following a breakfast meeting hosted by Governor Jose Calzada in his official residence, Dr. Hudson and the governor went on a walking tour of the historic center of the city. Trailing along were numerous news media representatives who interviewed Hudson (in Spanish) and Queretaro Minister of Education Fernando de la Isla whose agency will approve the campus.

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Mexican University Wins Spanish Award

Photo by Flickr user Omar Omar

Associated Press, 6/10/2009

A nearly 100-year-old Mexican university was awarded Spain’s Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities on Wednesday in recognition of its role in providing Latin America with outstanding intellectuals and scientists.

The National Autonomous University of Mexico, which has nearly 300,000 students and more than 34,000 professors and researchers, had received more than 1,500 letters of support for the award, including ones from world famous authors Carlos Fuentes and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the award foundation said.

The university, founded in 1910, “has become a point of reference, combining quality and an extensive academic and research offering with its firm commitment to disseminate culture, humanism and new technologies,” the foundation said.

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California’s Latinos and blacks still lag in university eligibility

Los Angles Times, 12/10/2008

Despite recent improvements, Latino and black students continue to lag behind whites and Asians in becoming academically eligible to enter California’s two public university systems, according to a state report released Tuesday.

Murray J. Haberman, the commission’s executive director, said he was pleased by the improved eligibility rates for African Americans and Latinos in the Cal State system. “Things are certainly moving in the right direction, although we still have a long way to go,” he said.

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Read the California Postsecondary Education Commission study