MAS club plans rally for solidarity
The next few weeks will be important for the Mexican American Studies program and club. Members of the organization and students listed under the degree curriculum are planning a walkout in response to local and national events and the possible elimination of such ethnic groups.
But to be successful, the Tejan@ Movement for Education rally slated for March 31 needs student support, something Orquedia Morales said members hope to see more of on campus by that time.
"Right now the main way to get through to them is Facebook and the fliers we’re giving out," said Morales, club coordinating chair and graduate student in her final semester. "Sometimes it’s happened when they’ll (students] vandalize them and write obscenities, but this is exactly why we should keep the program: people need to get educated on this."
Locally, the cause is to win the current fight to keep the MAS program available for any student interested in attaining a degree in the subject.
The Texas Higher Education Board recently questioned the adequacy of the program, rendering it a low-performance major due to low graduate turnout. What caused the board to finalize the decision, supporters said, is the redesigning of the program; within the past three years it has added a graduate certificate in MAS.
Militating against these debits is the potential interest in the subject, given the right circumstances.
"We want them to know that we do have some student demand," Morales said. "However, if we had the institutional support through funding, fees, etc., then we’re sure we would have a greater graduation turnout. But we don’t."
In light of Arizona House Bill 2281 (2010) that called for the ban on ethnic studies, specifically Mexican-American curriculum in public schools, as well as continuing legislation to alter current immigration policy, the MAS Club is hoping to influence change and promote justice.
And the fight for its cause is just beginning.
The number of supporters recently reached 180 on the MAS Facebook page, and those involved in the protest will walk out of class at 11:00 a.m. March 31. Later the plan is to meet at the Student Union Quad at 11 p.m. on the birthday of Mexican-American civil rights leader, Cesar Chavez.
Once there, students, faculty and speakers plan to create awareness on the importance of having programs like MAS in secondary and higher-learning institutions.
"If you really think about it, it’s not only affecting us here who are following a degree plan or certificate. Students transferring from South Texas College who want to pursue this field will have nothing to be offered by this university," said club treasurer Leslie Ross-Cantu, a senior English major and MAS minor. "It’s sad to see graduating seniors ask who Cesar Chavez was or what a rally is."