News Archive
September 19, 2007 - "NO" to local police officers acting as immigration enforcement
From El Centro Hispano in Durham
Dear Community Members, Friends and Allies,
Thank you so much to everyone who showed their support for the immigrant community in Durham yesterday. You are amazing!!! Last night we marched from El Centro Hispano to City Hall and were able to fill council chambers with over 45 Latino community members and allies of ages and races! This was especially inspiring considering the short notice folks had to respond to our call to action. Here we share a couple of photos from the meeting. Mayor Pro-Tempore Cora Cole-McFadden asked the audience why we were all present when this issue had been scheduled for the Thurs. work session, and Mayor Bell rebuked Councilman Stith for doing "a great disservice to our city" through his robocalls and stated that he had never received so many outraged calls and emails. Again I say- you are amazing!!! The issue will be taken up again this Thursday at the City Council work session, and we will be present to voice our support of the 2003 resolution. However, our work is not done. The Deputy Chief has stated that he clearly intends to form a collaboration with ICE to (as he says) "deport criminals". We definitely had a success last night, but must see this through to the end.
Here’s what you can do:
1. Come to the city council work session this Thursday at 1pm to show your support (We will be meeting at El Centro at 12:30 to walk over together if you are interested.)
2. If you have not done so already, call 919.560.4396 before Thursday’s 1pm work session and tell the council members' receptionist that you DO NOT want to change the resolution that states that the City of Durham will not question people about their immigration status in the normal course of doing business with residents on issues of police protection, housing and other services that the City provides.
3. If you have not done so already, E-mail city council members today telling them NOT to change the resolution as passed in 2003 AND that you do NOT want our local police officers acting as immigration enforcement! Cora.Cole-McFadden@durhamnc.gov; Eugene.Brown@durhamnc.gov; diane.catotti@durhamnc.gov; Howard.Clement@durhamnc.gov; tstith@nc.rr.com; mike.woodard@durhamnc.gov; Bill.Bell@durhamnc.gov
4. Email our new police chief- Chief Jose Lopez (jose.lopez@durhamnc.gov) or call his receptionist at 919.560.4322 and them him: We do not want our community overcome by fear! We want Durham to be safe for all it’s residents! and WE DO NOT WANT OUR LOCAL POLICE OFFICERS ACTING AS FEDERAL IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT!!!
In solidarity, Alba Onofrio
Directora Ejecutiva-Executive Director El Centro Hispano 201 West Main Street, Suite 100 Durham, NC 27701 919.687.4635 ext 43 aonofrio@elcentronc.org
October 21, 2007 - Los Suenos de Angelica/Angelica's Dreams Press Release
October 5, 2007
Angelica's Dreams, the first Latino feature film to come out of North Carolina, boldly mixes financial education and fiction
Angélica’s Dreams is the film version of Latino Community Credit Union's three-part dramatic mini series dedicated to financial education. The primary purpose of the video is to show community members, and the general population, the process of buying a home. Latino Community Credit Union (LCCU) produced it with a grant from the CDFI Fund, a program of the United States Treasury Department. LCCU contracted Rodrigo Dorfman's creative services as producer and director.
Los Sueños de Angélica is the moving story of an immigrant couple from Latin America, Angélica and Roberto, who are discussing whether to return to their home country or stay in the
The film is part of LCCU’s groundbreaking Home Buyer Education (HBE) program. These materials consist of an HBE Guide and the companion video series. LCCU will provide 25,000 copies of the guide and 1,200 copies of the video to be used throughout the
"At LCCU we recognize that the overwhelming majority of our more than 50,000 members have little or no experience with financial services and therefore need extensive financial education to integrate into the mainstream
Boldly mixing documentary and fiction, telenovela and comedy, director/producer Rodrigo Dorfman shot the film entirely on location in Durham, North Carolina, plunging his main characters deep into the daily life of one of the most vibrant new Latino communities in the U.S. Angélica’s Dreams takes you into butcher shops, construction sites, churches, music festivals, bars and real estate offices. There are no guns here, no drug dealers, no gang members, no gratuitous violence or foul language, only the turbulent, unexpectedly humorous lives of everyday people struggling to enter the mainstream of American society.
"The experience of making Angélica’s Dreams has been exhilarating and I hope it can serve as a model to anyone interested in the possibility of creating socially relevant low budget/high quality grassroots film from within a Latino community", says director Rodrigo Dorfman. “LCCU took a chance with this experiment and I can't thank them enough for this wonderful opportunity.”
The screening is sponsored by Latino Community Credit Union, the City of Durham Department of Community Development, and the following Duke University Departments: Latino/a Studies at Duke, The Multicultural Center, Community Affairs, the Institute for Critical US Studies, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Spanish Service Learning, Duke Women's Studies Program, Center for Documentary Studies, Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, the Community Service Center, the John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies, and Campus Life Unit of Student Affairs.
Latino Community Credit Union is a community development credit union that provides competitive interest rates for deposits, affordable loans, and financial education. Based in
Latino Community Credit Union/Cooperativa Comunitaria Latina de Crédito
Fax: (919) 688-9309
E-mail: angel@cooperativalatina.org
Web: http://www.cooperativalatina.org??/A>
October 25, 2007 - Senate Votes Against DREAM Act
October 25, 2007 - El Pueblo Condemns the Senate Vote against Students' Dream
Yesterday, the United States Senate voted against cloture- a motion to
proceed with further debate on the DREAM Act. The tally was 52 to 44, falling 8
votes short of the 60 needed. Both of North Carolina's Senators, Elizabeth Dole
(R) and Richard Burr (R), voted against cloture and, ultimately, against the
dreams and hopes of many talented and qualified youth that graduate from our
North Carolina high schools every year.
Not only were we failed by our Senators, we were extremely disappointed by the White House Administration which released a statement opposing the DREAM Act only moments before the Senate vote. The President made the point that immigration should be addressed in a comprehensive manner even as he continues to support enforcement-only approaches that have resulted in the separation of families and mass deportations of non-criminal immigrants. Ironically, many of the Senators who called for a comprehensive solution during the debate were precisely the same Senators who voted against continuing the negotiations around comprehensive immigration reform earlier this year.
It was unfortunate that the debate heard on the floor of the Senate contributed more to the rhetoric surrounding immigration and failed to recognize that the DREAM Act was a proposal about education and opportunity for young students who have only the best to offer this country. Instead, we continue to witness the inaction of our leaders, who repeatedly choose to avoid enacting and implementing pragmatic solutions that speak to the realities of our communities, our economy, and our future as a country.
El Pueblo commends and thanks Senators Reid (D-NV), Durbin (D-IL), Lugar (R-IN), and Hagel (R-NE) for standing up in the right side of this issue, and having the courage to champion the quest of education for our immigrant youth. We also want to thank everyone who called their Senators to voice their support for the DREAM Act. Unfortunately, many did not hear the necessity of such legislation and chose to maintain the status-quo, closing the door of opportunity to our talented youth.
El Pueblo is especially disappointed in our two Senators from North Carolina. Earlier this year, both NC Senators also voted to end further debate on comprehensive immigration reform. They have also made clear statements that they stand for the status-quo and continue to favor flawed enforcement of a chaotic and broken immigration system.
We call on our leaders to propose and support real solutions and come up with significant policies that will truly address the suffering of our immigrant families.
Help Protect Higher Education for ALL Students: Read and TAKE ACTION
North Carolina community colleges on Tuesday banned illegal immigrants from seeking degrees, a policy that is among the most restrictive in the nation. See http://www.newsobserver.com/news/higher_education/story/1071836.html.
HELP PROTECT HIGHER EDUCATION FOR ALL STUDENTS: TAKE ACTION TODAY
We need your help to ensure that Higher Education will be available for ALL students: http://capwiz.com/elpueblo/issues/alert/?alertid=11384781&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id]
Allowing access for ALL to higher education will: strengthen our future tax base. This is a workforce development issue.
These are qualified North Carolina students. In-state tuition and federal immigration issues are separate issues from open enrollment admission.
Tax Time: "Illegal Immigrants Pay Billions in Taxes"
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- The tax system collects its due, even from a class of workers with little likelihood of claiming a refund and no hope of drawing a Social Security check. Illegal immigrants are paying taxes to Uncle Sam, experts agree. Just how much they pay is hard to determine because the federal government doesn't fully tally it. But the latest figures available indicate it will amount to billions of dollars in federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes this year. One rough estimate puts the amount of Social Security taxes alone at around $9 billion per year. Paycheck withholding collects much of the federal tax from illegal workers, just as it does for legal workers. The Internal Revenue Service doesn't track a worker's immigration status, yet many illegal immigrants fearful of deportation won't risk the government attention that will come from filing a return even if they might qualify for a refund. Economist William Ford of Middle Tennessee State University says there are no firm figures on how many taxpayers are in that situation. "The real question is how many of them pay more than they owe. There are undoubtedly hundreds of thousands of people in that situation," Ford said. But some illegal immigrants choose to file taxes and write a check come April 15, using an alternative to the Social Security number offered by the IRS so it can collect income tax from foreign workers. "It's a mistake to think that no illegal immigrants pay taxes. They definitely do," said Martha Pantoja, who has been helping Hispanic immigrants this tax season as an IRS-certified volunteer tax preparer for the nonprofit Nashville Wealth Building Coalition. Among those she has assisted is Eric Jimenez, a self-employed handyman who has worked in Nashville for several years. He feels obliged to pay taxes -- even though, as Pantoja said, "nothing would happen" to him if he did not. "I have an idea, a mentality, that to be a good citizen you have to pay taxes," he said. "Also, I'm conscious of the fact that the money we pay in taxes supports the schools and all the public services." See http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/04/15/immigrant.taxes.ap/index.html for the remainder of this Associated Press story.
Pedro Lasch Exhibits Work in San Antonio: Eligible Traffic
Duke Latino/a Studies Community Liaison Pedro Lasch is participating in the exhibition, ELIGIBLE TRAFFIC, showing in San Antonio, TX from March 7 - April 5, 2008, with an opening reception on Friday March 7, 5-7pm.
Eligible Traffic opens March 7, 2008 at the
Eligible Traffic is a term that refers to a designation employed by the Department of Defense in which the law regulates the flow of individuals. Eligible Traffic addresses the subject of the undocumented immigrant and the legal formalities that differentiate the permitted from the excluded, responding to the current geo-political conflict involving the US/Mexico border.
This exhibition refuses to sentimentalize or marginalize the immigrant as victim. Instead, the works materialize laws that are invisible to its subjects. Borders are visualized and scrambled. Surveillance is turned against itself. National membership and issues of citizenship are re-imagined, proposing a more active question that directly articulates the complicated knot between art and politics: how can one represent artistically a life severed politically?
An experiment in curatorial collaboration, Eligible Traffic is a collaboration between the students from Trinity Universitys Gallery Practicum seminar and guest curator, NYC-based artist, Steven Lam. Through personal interaction with artists and scholars, the seminar utilizes the exhibition format as a hand-on pedagogical tool addressing topical concerns through the lens of artistic practice.
Undergraduate Summer Research Grants: Deadline March 31
Two to three awards of up to $2000 each will be made to undergraduate students who proposed independent summer research projects involving the study of Latino/a communities in the United States or US Latino/a-related subjects. Awardees will conduct summer research related to any discipline for at least two weeks in a Latino/a community or at a research institute or library with relevant holdings. Projects may be carried out anywhere in the United States and/or in multiple locations. (Note: this is different from international pojects taking place only in Latin America.) Deadline for applicants is March 31st. See Academics-Funding for more info and contact jennysw@duke.edu for application form and competition guidelines.
Apply Now: Duke Engage on the U.S. - Mexico Border
"Encuentros de la Frontera: U.S. - Mexico Border Civic Engagement" A DukeEngage Summer 2008 Program Program Description: Immigration is perhaps the single largest domestic challenge facing the both the U.S. and Mexico today. People die nearly every week on the border. Hostilities against immigrants in the U.S. are mounting. International relations are strained. This program will provide DukeEngage students the opportunity to become informed about issues related to the border, migration, and foreign policy. Students will gain a better understanding of “comprehensive immigration reform” and will analyze concerns surrounding “amnesty.” The experience will be closely tied to the work of BorderLinks, a well-respected organization that has been working with college students for 20+ years. Volunteer opportunities will range from working at a migrant day labor camp to teaching ESL, to providing emergency humanitarian aid in the desert, and more. Tangible outcomes of this project will likely consist of documentation projects linking the US/Mexico border to Durham, NC; students will share these projects through exhibits, class presentations, independent studies and theses projects. Project Leaders: Charlie Thompson, Jenny Snead Williams, Tennessee Watson Program Dates: June 7 – Aug 2 We will accept 6-8 students this first summer; application deadline is March 31, with students admitted on rolling basis. Apply early for preferential placement. Come see a presentation by 8 students who spent Spring Break with Borderlinks and the project leaders: March 31, 6-8pm at the Refectory Dining Hall on Duke West Campus. Contact Fiona O’Sullivan for $15 tickets (all you can eat, healthy local food) and for more info. fiona.osullivan@duke.edu. For More Info on this DukeEngage opportunity on the US/Mexico Border, see DukeEngage website http://dukeengage.duke.edu/ and contact Jenny Snead Williams, jennysw@duke.edu.
DukeEngage: Encuentros de la Frontera: US-Mexico Border Civic Engagement
Duke undergraduates (excluding graduating seniors) are eligible to apply for an eight-week civic engagement opportunity on the US-Mexico Border.
Immigration is perhaps the single largest domestic challenge facing the both the U.S. and Mexico today. People die nearly every week on the border. Hostilities against immigrants in the U.S. are mounting. International relations are strained. This program, through which students will spend at least 10 days in Mexico, will provide DukeEngage students the opportunity to become informed about the issues related to the border and to understand what “comprehensive immigration reform” is as well as analysis of ideas of “amnesty.” The experience will be closely tied to the work of BorderLinks, a well-respected organization specifically designed to work with college students. Volunteer opportunities will range from work with ESL students to emergency first aid. Tangible outcomes of this project will likely consist of documentation projects and film footage that students will share through exhibits, forums, class presentations, independent studies and theses projects. Visit http://dukeengage.duke.edu/ for more information.
NBC-17 news coverage: Latino/a Studies (1) and El Centro Hispano (2)
Headline 1: Importance of Latino Vote to Be Discussed at Duke click here (video coverage of the event was shown at 11pm TUESDAY, FEB 12 and is not - yet - online). Visiting Professor of Political Science, Jason Casellas, spoke on "The Latino/Hispanic Vote in the Presidential Election" to a standing-room only audience. The event was presented by Latino/a Studies and Mi Gente: Latino Student Association.
Headline 2: Durham Police Chief Hopes To Make Latinos Feel Safer: TUESDAY, FEB 12 - click here. Durham's police chief sought out Latinos Tuesday night to tell them its ok to call police when they have been a victim of a crime.
Headline 3: Durham Cracking Down On Robbers Targeting Latinos: FRIDAY, FEB 8 - click here Gun toting robbers have been targeting Latino residents in Durham and police say they're cracking down on the criminals.
Welcome to Our New Website!
Our current big news relates to our website launch on September 19th and our new physical location, which includes the addition of our Latino/a Studies Resource Room. We will be holding a few Open House events to bring in students, faculty, staff, employees, and community members. Join our listserv (visit the "About" pages) so that we can inform you as we plan these fall receptions. We look forward to seeing you in our new space. For information on our new director, Professor Jose David Saldívar, who has just arrived to Duke in August, see the News Archive.
2 Great Courses: Cultures of US Imperialism: War of 1898 AND America in Black and Brown
ENGLISH 169CS - Cultures of US Imperialsims: War of 1898
Crosslisted: LIT 161S and SPAN 122S
Instructor: Saldivar, Jose D Tu Th 2:50 PM- 4:05 PM (240 Science)
This special topics course explores the narratives--memoirs, essays, novels, testimonies, letters--and history of the Cultures of United States Imperialism. We will start by considering the multiple meanings of US imperialism and anti-imperialism, and the frontiers of US Empire. We will then examine the meaning of the war of 1898. Was 1898 a date and space of historical beginning and/or a date of historical rupture? Why was the War of 1898 termed a "splendid little war?" But we will move beyond the reification of 1898 by considering other transnational configurations such as Jose Marti's Latinamericanism, W.E. B. Du Bois's Pan-Africanism, and Subcomandante Marcos Zapatismo. Additionally, we will explore how US imperialism maps the relations of the domestic and the foreign in gendered and ethno-racial terms. Briefly, this course has a double focus. One looks at the representations of US empire in a variety of literary and non-literary texts within a broad timeframe. The second examines recent theoretical work about culture and US imperialism and sets them in dialogue with the current efforts to remap the post-colonial dimensions of US culture and society.
Course content is over 50% Latino/a Studies-specific. Link to course (with texts required and course grading): http://www.siss.duke.edu/schedule/1230/ENGLISH/169CS/
AAAS 199S - SP TOP: America in Black and Brown
Crosslisted: HISTORY 106S, LIT 162ZS
Instructor: Reyes, Alvaro W F 8:30 AM-9:45 AM (Sci Bldg 240)
This class will attempt to deepen our understanding of the 1960's by showing the centrality of actions taken by people of Color on and off college campuses across the United States- actions that began in the late 1950's and continued into the Early 1970's.
We will begin with an examination of the global context of the revolts that occurred during this epoch (African Decolonization, Viet Nam etc). We will then concentrate on the content of the expression of this era within Black and Latino radical movements-mostly specifically, the Black Panther Party, The Young Lords Organization, and the Chicano Movement. Link to course: http://www.siss.duke.edu/schedule/1230/LIT/162ZS/
Support Access to NC Community Colleges
On November 7, 2007, the NC Community College System Office released a memo stating that all community colleges in the state are now required to admit undocumented students. On Friday, Nov 30, Gov Easley made a public statement of support for undocumented immigrants to attend community colleges if they qualify and if they pay out-of-state tuition. Please visit the El Pueblo site and click on the links to thank Gov Easley and to support access for all to higher education.
This policy change will strengthen our future tax base. It would give an opportunity to young people who have grown up in North Carolina, and been educated in NC public schools to obtain a higher education while also allowing our state to have access to the long-term economic benefits that these students can provide as a highly educated and bilingual workforce. This is about investing in the future of NC and the people who live, work and raise families here. Immigrant families are pulling more than their own weight when it comes to the taxes they pay, the contribution they are making to our growing economy, and what they bring to a diverse state like North Carolina. This is not about special rights; this is about not making the self-defeating mistake of cutting off the achievement and ability to succeed of our neighbors.
This is a workforce development issue. North Carolina's state and local governments, businesses, and industry are currently recruiting college graduates from outside the state, as well as outside the US, to fill shortages in the fields of business, education, and health services. A number of students who will benefit from this policy change have the potential to satisfy many of these essential job needs in NC. Immigrants are here, are paying taxes, holding jobs, raising families, and most will be here for the rest of their lives and while it is good for the immigrants to get an education, it is even more important for all of us in North Carolina that they move up the economic ladder and become self-sufficient engines of the NC economy. Access to our state's colleges will increase the state's collective productivity and economic growth by preparing an educated workforce.
These are qualified North Carolina students. According to the law, any student in North Carolina is entitled to a public school education until the 12th grade, meaning that our state has already invested significantly in their education. These are high school students who have attended elementary and secondary schools in this state for most of their lives, who are likely to remain in the state and are high achieving and highly motivated. By allowing them to pursue higher educations, the state can benefit from students who are bilingual and bicultural, and able to contribute to the state's collective productivity and economic growth.
In-state tuition and federal immigration issues are separate issues. This policy change does not affect in-state tuition. Undocumented students that attend Community Colleges must still pay out-of-state tuition, which is over $2,000 more than the actual cost of educating the students. Thus, students that benefit from this policy change will essentially be subsidizing the cost of educating citizens.
December 03, 2007 - Run for Unity: Mexico City to NYC - stopped Friday in Durham
Watch Friday's NBC 17 news report on the Antorcha Guadelupana, "Race For Unity Spreads Immigration Message" here: "It's a march for the dignity of a people divided by the border," said Duke University Professor and local event organizer Pedro Lasch.
The relay started in Mexico City Oct. 7. The group will carry the "Guadalupe Torch" all the way to the Big Apple, uniting families from Mexico and the United States along the way.
They entered Durham at dusk on Friday singing, "La Guadalupana," a traditional song in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe – the patron saint of Latin America.
One message of the march is to share the most colorful parts of their faith, said Rebecca Arrieta, torch runner.
Click on the link above to watch or read full report.
Wake County Plans to Enforce Immigration Laws Locally
11-8-07 From La Voz del Pueblo (Raleigh, NC)
Wake County Plans to Enforce Immigration Laws Locally
Sheriff Announced Intention of Entering the 287(g) Program
See links below to take action!
This week, Wake County Commissioners gave Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison unanimous approval to sign on to the 287(g) program. This program allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to give local law enforcement the ability to enforce immigration law.
The initiative would cost Wake county $629,316 for its initial implementation, and about $539,341 per year subsequently.
This program is being sold to the public as one that would focus soley on criminals. However, in a recent article published by the News and Observer, Sheriff Harrison clearly offers a new definition for "criminal" under the 287(g) program and admits that driving with an expired drivers' license would be cause enough to check the immigration status of some individuals. "Driving without a license is a crime. A crime is a crime" (N&O, November 6, 2007). In actuality, this type of a traffic violation would normally result in a potential order to appear in court, or a ticket and fine. Under 287(g) and in Sheriff Harrison's own words, undocumented immigrants driving without a valid drivers' license would now be considered "criminals" and face arrest, detention, and eventual immigration action. This in a state that made it impossible for undocumented immigrants to apply for a new or renewed drivers' license in 2006 and thereby criminalized over 300,000 residents in our state.
The reality is that there are no uniform standards in the guidelines for operations under the 287(g) Memorandums of Agreement (MOA). Every county can be granted a different level of authority ranging from questioning inmates in county jails to questioning individuals solely on the basis of undocumented status . Further, it has been very difficult to gain access to actual copies of every county's MOA in order to understand exactly what are the limits of authority law enforcement are working under and what community members' rights are when they feel they have been unfairly targeted. As a result, there is little to no oversight in how 287(g) is implemented in each county or any real way to inform community members.
Some of the concerns this creates in our community include:
- The high risk for racial profiling: Because it is left to the discretion of officers to determine who is a potential undocumented immigrant, there could easily be an increase in the use of racial profiling as a means to "determine" who to question as a possible undocumented immigrant. This clearly affects all minorities, extending far beyond just the undocumented members of our society.
-The marginalization of a population as it refers to law enforcement: Undocumented immigrants who are victims of a crime or who witness a crime would be very hesitant to report such activities to local law enforcement if they fear it would result in their or their family members' detention and deportation. This is a clear impediment to the safety of our community as a whole.
-Lack of transparency in the process: The way MOAs are negotiated, without public input, means that things that extend beyond the reach of normal law enforcement operations could be included. There is no way to identify which law enforcement officials have been trained in immigration enforcement or what the limits of their authority are in that county. This severely erodes the civil liberties of everyone in our community.
It is unfortunate that our local leaders are choosing this path. The hateful political rhetoric at the national level coerced our national leaders into inaction regarding comprehensive immigration reform. The enforcement of immigration law, which is a federal responsibility, has been transferred to the state and local levels. However, localities are taking the wrong approach. With a broken immigration system that leaves almost no room for attaining a legal presence in this country for those who need it the most, the right answer is not to take an enforcement-only approach.
Please follow the link to "Take Action" and send the pre-written email or your own message to the County Commissioners and the Wake County Sheriff to express your disappointment in their decision to spend public money in a flawed approach to immigration.
Given the fact that they have already made a decision, demand transparency and honesty in the process so that this program does not affect innocent members of our community.
To read more about 287 (g)s, click here. To take Action, click here.
Article in The Chronicle: Latino/a Studies hopes prof will boost profile
For the past 10 years, Latino/a Studies has been gradually gaining a presence on campus, but it has lacked a distinguished figure on its faculty to anchor it. This August, however, the University attracted Jose Saldivar, a professor of English and literature, from the
ACTION NEEDED: SENATE LIKELY TO VOTE ON DREAM ACT THIS WEEK!
Monday, September 24, 2007 - URGENT Action Needed
DC senate offices are getting slammed by the
anti-immigrant forces with hundreds of thousands of calls!
We must respond now! Call and fax your senators - tell them, PLEASE VOTE FOR THE
DURBIN-HAGEL-LUGAR DREAM ACT AMENDMENT TO THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION
BILL SO THAT IMMIGRANT
STUDENTS BROUGHT HERE AS CHILDREN CAN REALIZE THEIR POTENTIAL. The DREAM Act would apply only to individuals brought to the U.S. at least 5 years ago as
children, who have grown up here, and who have remained in school and out of
trouble. They could get a green card 6 years after graduating from high school
if during that time they continue on to college or serve in the military. For more information and to e-mail your senators in support of the DREAM Act... [more]
Latino/a Studies Welcome Reception - Mark Your Calendars
NEWS: The Latino/a Studies Welcome Reception and Open House will take place on Friday October 12th, 4:00 -5:30pm. We welcome all our affiliated students, faculty, staff and administrators, and community members to join with us in celebration of our "rebirth" under new leadership (Professor Jose David Saldivar) and in our new space (Science Building). The reception will take place in the central upstairs wing of the Science Building (Old Art Museum) on East Campus. You may find directions under the "About" link.
New Director of Latino/a Studies
Dear Friends,
I welcome you back from Spring Break with excellent and long-awaited news! Duke has successfully recruited José David Saldívar from UC Berkeley (please see info below). Saldívar will come to Duke this August with a primary appointment in English and secondary appointment in Literature.
As the new Director of Latino/a Studies, he will bring fresh ideas and a strong commitment to growing our Latino/a Studies "program" at Duke. The University has likewise made a significant pledge to Latino/a Studies, with anticipated development of course offerings, research grants, on-site conferences, and fellowships.
Saldívar's arrival in Fall '07 will coincide with the opening of new space for 'US Latino/a Studies' on East Campus. The University has dedicated offices for Director, Program Coordinator, and a Latino/a Studies Resource Room in the Old Art Museum, currently under renovation.
Many list subscribers (students, faculty, and staff) have already met with Saldívar during his various visits to campus, and everyone in the Duke/Durham/Triangle community will have such an opportunity this fall when we host an Open House and Welcome in our new location. In the meantime, stay tuned to our listserv and website (latino.aas.duke.edu) for spring events and updates.
Cheerfully, Jenny