La Voz de Aztlan, May 3 1977
Item
Title
La Voz de Aztlan, May 3 1977
Creator
Associated Students of Fresno State
Relation
La Voz de Aztlan (Daily Collegian, California State University, Fresno)
Coverage
Fresno, California
Date
5/3/1977
Format
PDF
Identifier
SCUA_lvda_00085
extracted text
LA vaz
DE
>
AZTLAN
Tuesday. May 3. 197?
LXXX/92
A special edition of
THE ,COLLEGtAN
California State University, Fresno
Que curiosa es la vida,
Queremos y no queremos,
- - - - - --Rechazamos y a c e p t a m o s - - - - - - - - - : 0 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -....
Aceptamos y rechazamos
Queremos saber pa'
desilusionamos awi
mas y asi tomar wia
Determinacion definitiva
o se suicida, o se
Rebels concientemente
A favor de la justicia.
Armadina Garza
Alvino Fran co 1st prize
Avino Franco, a student at
CSUF, is the first prize winner
($25.ClO) of La Voz' art contest.
His drawing takes up La Voz'
front page this issue. Avino also
won second prize ($15.00) while
third prize ($10.00) goes to Joel
-Garcia of Fresno.
POR Ml QUERIDO HERMANITO
My little brother
with the curious mind.
"A scientist", is what you want to be.
My Chlcanlto brother with your high aspirations at the age of nine.
The power owned.by the dominate society can destroy your mind.
Prejudice, exploitation, discrimination, if only you could see.
For already you have refused to eat because of the lunch tickets
that make you feel ashamed.
But, you my little brother are not to blame.
I too know that being _poor and different can cause much pain.
Mi querldo, my heart cries out in pain for you.
Tears that fall softly from my eyes, blinding my sight, but never,
no never, from the pain you a~e going through.
But, there is hope. listen little brother.
are Chicanos, and have a power above no other.
W-e are heirs to a spiritual power, handed down to us by our ancestors.
Listen carefully to the wind, con you hear their chanting lures.?
;-
~
Of love, and peace, that mylove, is their song
For I know that the end of our oppression will not be long.
by VICKIE VARELA
Alvino Franco
West Side Los Banos
The sun goes downThe ravines of Pacheco Pass darken.
Warm air glides off the oarched hills
And across the west side.
Heat rises from t-he short grasses
Into night. Smog, above 152. will drift
Onto the counters of abandoned
fruitstands,
The windshields of junked cars.
Joel Garcia
Tonight, once more, foxtails swish ,
Rabbits dart from under the owl,
Ants enter the yawning beak of crow,
And sage, on barbed fences,
Strain to pull away from this earth
Like the housewives, caught in Los Banos,
Who want to pack up and call it quits.
Gary Soto
''Someone Beats At My Heart"
With The Dark Eyes Of Spring
Ailing in Guadalajara,
in the half sun of dead Gods; ·
searching the mind of voices
I escape going nowhere.
A girl in a nightgown with tiny
feet
keeps watch.
I'm lost in my blood.
Outside my window
the world grunts.
Vendors peddle in wooden. carts
the universe.
I live while death dances.
On the other side of the street
without sleep mariachis bite
carniverous laments ; prostitutes
move
into vastness like a sultry cold
airand the hizz of food cooking adds to the obstinate wail of life
Living here adds discontent
the ritual to life ' , pa:nful
and one must h aI n Lv c.1cc1.e t t
things.
I remember my loneliness
there in that city.
Even the Quiet Castilian nights
assemble like numberless nip pies.
There where
I searched for the Gods
in the gunsigh ts of
gentle,
poems.
omar salinas March 6, 76
student support
Raza gains
down - the drain ?
MEChA to .elect officers May 12
Three students have entered
the race for the MEChA
presidency which will be decided
in an election May 12.
The presidential candidates
are Pablo Espinosa, Jr., Adrian
Garcia, and Juan Mendoza.
Espinoza and Garcia are
political newcomers to MEChA
offices but Mendoza is currently
serving as vice-president.
President Denise Torres -said\
MEChA will break from tradition
this year and conduct the elections during a MEChA meeting
May _l2.
"This is so people who have
been attending and are aware of
MEChA's current issues will
vote," she said.
The newly elected officers will
take office May 30 and will direct
MEChA for both semesters next
year.
Two new offices were created
for this election. They are
corresponding secretary and a
second sargeant-at-arms.
Running for the vice-president
position are Sam Benavides and
Cindy Cabrera. Benavides has
served as MEChA sargeant-atarms in the past while Ms.
Cabrera is an officer of Las
Adelitas, the campus Chicana
club.
Treasurer candidates are Irma
Garza and Elma Mejia.
The only candidate for the
''regular'' secretary spot is
Marty Gomez.
Also running unopposed is
Alicia Ramirez who seeks the
position of corresponding
secretary.
Sargeant-at-arms candidates
are Jay Sepulveda, Luis Rendon,
and Frank Hidalgo.
Frank Fernandez
The 14"resno Mexican American
Political Association (MAPA)
has joined the Fresno City
College MEChA and other
Chicano organizations in enfdorsing Frank Fernandez for
Fresno City Council.
Fernandez is the only Chicano
candidate in a field of 10 persons
who are seeking the seat vacated
by Al Villa when he was appointed Fresno Municipal Court
Judge two months ago.
A special election will be held
May 31.
Manuel
Perez,
MAPA
president, said Monday Fernandez was endorsed because of
his extensive experience in the
community-both Chicano and
non-Chicano oriented.
"He has some solutions
beneficial to not only the
Chicano, but all Fresno citizens,"
said Perez. "He has experience
in the business world but he's
sensitive to people-problems ... ''
Contacted Monday, Fernandez
told La Voz he regards his insurance business as a service to
people.
"Money is secondary,,. said
Fernandez. "I could make three
times the money, but I'd rather
h~~P people."
GRANDMOTHER
At my grandmothers house
the wind brecks sudden · on
windows
and waking is a bed of morning,
a chest filled with dust.
I tell her the heater needs a filter,
she stops, looks at my youth,
them shrugs to the back yard and
cuts weeks.
From the window I see hands
Pull at her from earth, and winter
falling on her warm breath.
At noon she comes back with her
arms
bruised where blood dammed up,
for her chorizc without egg
and water tinged with the taste
.r·ernancez owns and operates
his own insurance business:
Fernandez Insurance Agency in
Fresno. Born in Crows Landing
(Ca.), and raised in Patterson,
Fernandez came to Fresno in
1952 and attended Fresno State
College.
After serving in the ·Korean
War, he graduated from Heald
Business College in San Francisco. He returned to Fresno in
1958, after meeting his wife to be,
Evangelina.
His residency in Fresno since
then has included involvement in
various community activities
such as current membership i in
the Urban Planning Task Force,
the
Capitol
Improvement
Committee, and the Neighborhood Council. He was a
member of 1975-76 Grand Jury.
Fern-andez' days with tee
grand jury included initiating the
improvement of the Fresno
P>unty Jail kitchen.
He feels one of the main issues
of his candidacy deals with urban
growth and the neglect of
downtown Fresno and West
Fresno.
·
Other Chicano organizations
endorsing Fernandez are Latino
Peace Officers Association, and
Mexicano Unidos.
Since its inception at Fresno State eight years ago, the La Rar.a
Studies Program has relied heavily on student support for its survival
as well as its direction.
In times of dire need-such as the abolishmen_t of the progrr1970 which was countered with physical response, and the fi~
departmentalization in 1975 which was highlighted by a five-d,
in-students have rallied to create and maintain an academi
proach to the history, culture, and future of Raza.
Such direct and no-nonsense approaches to La Raza Studies'
problems may have left an image of the Chicano student movement
.t hat some people refuse to recognize on its true merits. At the time,.
those methods may have been the most effective to get people to sci$
what was happening.
Raza
Now La
Studies faces another major obstacle-but not as
visible to those if us outside the politics of the university-which
could lead to the end of/ the program. ,
If Chicano students-or anyone who understands the necessity and
value of the program-still w,nt the program ... we must come out for
it now ...NOW. _
You won't have to throw any rocks at any windows; you won't have
to storm any buildings and occupy them; you _won't have to stage
Senate to
determine
minority fate
Wednesday, May 4, the
Associated Student Senate will
meet in the College Union- to
consider the 1977-78 proposed
budget, as recommended by the
Budget and Finance Committee.
Some of the programs, which
are being considered for funding,
includes: Semana de la Raza,
Black History Week, Amer-asian
and Tewaquachi- week, Human
Potentialists, Gay Peoples
Union, The Collegian, La Voz,
and the Uhuru.
The senate meeting will begin
at 7: 00 a .m. in the College Union
and those interested should attend.
Dedication
plan for
mural
Dedication ceremonies for a
mural painted by Fresno
Chicanas will be held at the
Parlier Migrant Labor Camp on
May 15.
The mural, which depicts
Chicano history from a woman's
perspective, was painted on
panels at the C~ntro Hurtado in
Fresno and will be transported to
the labor camp at Parlier and
Academy avenues, north of
Manning Avenue.
and teas, saying,
of Mexican dirt.
"We will take care of you now,
I tell her chorizc kills, but she
,e ats on,
grandmother."
letting globs of thick blooc;l
flow down her chin.
At home, we take care of her,
"Come and live with us, grandgive her parties.
mother," I say,
Father buys a cane to prop her
but she answers with the full _ arms_,
weight of a house,
brother, in wood shop,
and fingers that long ago gave
·
smooths out a walking square
up.
•
to pace the limits of her world.
Then summer comes anointing
her bones,
bringing birds again pecking
grasses from her door,
so I gather he_r collection of
sweaters
and bottle perscriptions,
gather her hands, emptied often
of spoons
And without her, the house goes
on,
dressing itself up with Springs
and Summers,
and days, and the need
of collecting no more.
V .L. Martinez
mass demonstrali~i~ffl
ffl enfary
What is needed is a strong show of support for the program and a
response to some of the movidas which are being pulled on us and our
supporters throughout the university.
Find a place in your schedule for La Raza Studies courses and take
note of the university's policies regarding the cutback of t~nured
faculty members in departments whose enrollments are declining.
It really is difficult to convey to you-fellow Chicanos, fellow
students-the implications behind this story. You've heard all kinds of
ruckus relating to enrollment decline, budget cuts as a result, policy
revisions, etc., etc., etc ....and you may well not feel the pinch that is
coming down on La Raza Studies, or feel that it really is not going to
bear on your overall academic pursuits at this university.
But behind all the smoke rests the guns which are pointing at its
victims: us. These cutbacks are unjustifiably coming down on our
heads.
It's as simple as this: because of enrollment decline, fulltime
equivalency (FTE )-the method used by the state to budget money to
the university according to its enrollment-is cut back.
Therefore, we find that we shall distribute this cutback throughout
our university on that same basis: if your enrollment is down, you
gotta go. So, the university re-allocates its tenure faculty positions.
And we find such programs as La Raza Stuc:p.es, which are refused
status of departmentalization or prerequisite credit for its courses,
falling into a trap because students can't take many of its courses and
get the credit ther need for their respective field.
What their saying i$ "as soon as you get more students, we'll give
you more credits, tenured faculty, etc.'' But-the program can't even
draw the students because it doesn't have the necessary credits or
tenured facuity to truly build something will draw.
As La Raza Studies Program director Alex Saragoza stated at a
recent meeting in which students were demanding clarification on the
matter: "It's the chicken and the egg th~g. Which comes first?"
Furthermore, this FTE deal is saying: tenure is no longer based on
merit as the primary consideration. Rather, enrollment is the number
one criteria.
·
This means also that we stand to lose some of our non-Chicano
friends in various PQSitions throughout the university: lood instructors, individuals, who were at our side in times of distress, or in
shows of solidarity for our cause. We cannot let them down.
One way of illustrating this concern is like this:
_
A professor who received an evaluation of "fair" but is in a
"growing" department" is more guaranteed a position than ·an
"excellent" rated professor whose departm_e nt's enrollment is on the
downs.
Or ... still another way .. .its money th~t matters here ...not quality.
.
What can you do?
One way ~ help the situation is direct your priorities to include a La
Raza Studies course in your schedule.
(There really shouldn't be a need to discuss the real reaso!]S why
you might consider taking the courses. Hopefully, the value is obvious, especially considering the fact that no matter what field you go
into, you're going to deal with Chicanos and other minorities and it
would be wise to have some insight to our lives.)
Other methods include listening to faculty groups such as the
United Professors of California as they taclde the issue; or initiating a
petition revolving around the issue to demonstrate to the administration that we feel there is a better way to ~ with the
problem.
.
No, maybe we don't n~ to resort to our more physical methods of
the past.... but we can't Just sit back.
If La Raza Studies goes, so does a major portion of our "Investment" in -recent years ...all down the drain.
-TomUrlbet
Staff Writer
emano
- Chi.canit-os,take up the culture
Reading a proclamation signed
by Gov. Jerry Brown, Leo
Gallegos officially opened
Monday Semana de la RazaFresno State's observance of
Cinco de Mayo.
The week-long celebrations
note the anniversary of the
Mexican defeat of French forces
in 1862 which brought security to
Mexico by quelling a possible
invasion.
Semana has become a yearly
fete planned and carried out by
MEChA members. It is funded
through the Associated Student
Senate.
Current chairperson is Sandy
Ramirez.
..k.,bbllL.
EL MANIOSO
there's nothing
like it
,
after dinner
or late breakfasts
(how slowly
your eyes closed
as you ate; ·
how gently
you parted
the omelet or hot sandwich,
smelling them as if
they were flowers),
after sitting near
the lake ( the tiers of thin clouds
changing from
red to purple,
the sun lowering behind them),
after having lain
with you in
the comfortable apartment
of rugs, stereos and lunar glows
(there were shadows
on your cheeks and shoulders,
uneven shadows, light blotches
really, like those
on the moon;
and your hair
fell like
a dark waterfall
past the soft stones
of your shoulders),
after listening to you
speak of your son
(how sorry
that he's without a father,
how sorry
that you bore him
alone, baptised him
on that sweltering day
when everyone's sweat
ran as if
their bodies were weeping ... ),
and after leaving
you at the door,
the dawn playing
with the part in your robe,
the sun rises
and lights my way
to another's house,
another who smiles
and serves breakfast and
squeezes my crotch
like an orange· (her sheets
have flowers on them,
her candles smell sweet,
her breasts tumble
to me, their color
like brown sugar),
another who's there
in the~meanwhile,
who waits
and asks of you,
who hopes well
for your son,
another who wishes
i would not leave_. ..
there's nothing
like it
Leonard Adame
(from: entrance 4 chicano poets)
DE
>
AZTLAN
Tuesday. May 3. 197?
LXXX/92
A special edition of
THE ,COLLEGtAN
California State University, Fresno
Que curiosa es la vida,
Queremos y no queremos,
- - - - - --Rechazamos y a c e p t a m o s - - - - - - - - - : 0 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -....
Aceptamos y rechazamos
Queremos saber pa'
desilusionamos awi
mas y asi tomar wia
Determinacion definitiva
o se suicida, o se
Rebels concientemente
A favor de la justicia.
Armadina Garza
Alvino Fran co 1st prize
Avino Franco, a student at
CSUF, is the first prize winner
($25.ClO) of La Voz' art contest.
His drawing takes up La Voz'
front page this issue. Avino also
won second prize ($15.00) while
third prize ($10.00) goes to Joel
-Garcia of Fresno.
POR Ml QUERIDO HERMANITO
My little brother
with the curious mind.
"A scientist", is what you want to be.
My Chlcanlto brother with your high aspirations at the age of nine.
The power owned.by the dominate society can destroy your mind.
Prejudice, exploitation, discrimination, if only you could see.
For already you have refused to eat because of the lunch tickets
that make you feel ashamed.
But, you my little brother are not to blame.
I too know that being _poor and different can cause much pain.
Mi querldo, my heart cries out in pain for you.
Tears that fall softly from my eyes, blinding my sight, but never,
no never, from the pain you a~e going through.
But, there is hope. listen little brother.
are Chicanos, and have a power above no other.
W-e are heirs to a spiritual power, handed down to us by our ancestors.
Listen carefully to the wind, con you hear their chanting lures.?
;-
~
Of love, and peace, that mylove, is their song
For I know that the end of our oppression will not be long.
by VICKIE VARELA
Alvino Franco
West Side Los Banos
The sun goes downThe ravines of Pacheco Pass darken.
Warm air glides off the oarched hills
And across the west side.
Heat rises from t-he short grasses
Into night. Smog, above 152. will drift
Onto the counters of abandoned
fruitstands,
The windshields of junked cars.
Joel Garcia
Tonight, once more, foxtails swish ,
Rabbits dart from under the owl,
Ants enter the yawning beak of crow,
And sage, on barbed fences,
Strain to pull away from this earth
Like the housewives, caught in Los Banos,
Who want to pack up and call it quits.
Gary Soto
''Someone Beats At My Heart"
With The Dark Eyes Of Spring
Ailing in Guadalajara,
in the half sun of dead Gods; ·
searching the mind of voices
I escape going nowhere.
A girl in a nightgown with tiny
feet
keeps watch.
I'm lost in my blood.
Outside my window
the world grunts.
Vendors peddle in wooden. carts
the universe.
I live while death dances.
On the other side of the street
without sleep mariachis bite
carniverous laments ; prostitutes
move
into vastness like a sultry cold
airand the hizz of food cooking adds to the obstinate wail of life
Living here adds discontent
the ritual to life ' , pa:nful
and one must h aI n Lv c.1cc1.e t t
things.
I remember my loneliness
there in that city.
Even the Quiet Castilian nights
assemble like numberless nip pies.
There where
I searched for the Gods
in the gunsigh ts of
gentle,
poems.
omar salinas March 6, 76
student support
Raza gains
down - the drain ?
MEChA to .elect officers May 12
Three students have entered
the race for the MEChA
presidency which will be decided
in an election May 12.
The presidential candidates
are Pablo Espinosa, Jr., Adrian
Garcia, and Juan Mendoza.
Espinoza and Garcia are
political newcomers to MEChA
offices but Mendoza is currently
serving as vice-president.
President Denise Torres -said\
MEChA will break from tradition
this year and conduct the elections during a MEChA meeting
May _l2.
"This is so people who have
been attending and are aware of
MEChA's current issues will
vote," she said.
The newly elected officers will
take office May 30 and will direct
MEChA for both semesters next
year.
Two new offices were created
for this election. They are
corresponding secretary and a
second sargeant-at-arms.
Running for the vice-president
position are Sam Benavides and
Cindy Cabrera. Benavides has
served as MEChA sargeant-atarms in the past while Ms.
Cabrera is an officer of Las
Adelitas, the campus Chicana
club.
Treasurer candidates are Irma
Garza and Elma Mejia.
The only candidate for the
''regular'' secretary spot is
Marty Gomez.
Also running unopposed is
Alicia Ramirez who seeks the
position of corresponding
secretary.
Sargeant-at-arms candidates
are Jay Sepulveda, Luis Rendon,
and Frank Hidalgo.
Frank Fernandez
The 14"resno Mexican American
Political Association (MAPA)
has joined the Fresno City
College MEChA and other
Chicano organizations in enfdorsing Frank Fernandez for
Fresno City Council.
Fernandez is the only Chicano
candidate in a field of 10 persons
who are seeking the seat vacated
by Al Villa when he was appointed Fresno Municipal Court
Judge two months ago.
A special election will be held
May 31.
Manuel
Perez,
MAPA
president, said Monday Fernandez was endorsed because of
his extensive experience in the
community-both Chicano and
non-Chicano oriented.
"He has some solutions
beneficial to not only the
Chicano, but all Fresno citizens,"
said Perez. "He has experience
in the business world but he's
sensitive to people-problems ... ''
Contacted Monday, Fernandez
told La Voz he regards his insurance business as a service to
people.
"Money is secondary,,. said
Fernandez. "I could make three
times the money, but I'd rather
h~~P people."
GRANDMOTHER
At my grandmothers house
the wind brecks sudden · on
windows
and waking is a bed of morning,
a chest filled with dust.
I tell her the heater needs a filter,
she stops, looks at my youth,
them shrugs to the back yard and
cuts weeks.
From the window I see hands
Pull at her from earth, and winter
falling on her warm breath.
At noon she comes back with her
arms
bruised where blood dammed up,
for her chorizc without egg
and water tinged with the taste
.r·ernancez owns and operates
his own insurance business:
Fernandez Insurance Agency in
Fresno. Born in Crows Landing
(Ca.), and raised in Patterson,
Fernandez came to Fresno in
1952 and attended Fresno State
College.
After serving in the ·Korean
War, he graduated from Heald
Business College in San Francisco. He returned to Fresno in
1958, after meeting his wife to be,
Evangelina.
His residency in Fresno since
then has included involvement in
various community activities
such as current membership i in
the Urban Planning Task Force,
the
Capitol
Improvement
Committee, and the Neighborhood Council. He was a
member of 1975-76 Grand Jury.
Fern-andez' days with tee
grand jury included initiating the
improvement of the Fresno
P>unty Jail kitchen.
He feels one of the main issues
of his candidacy deals with urban
growth and the neglect of
downtown Fresno and West
Fresno.
·
Other Chicano organizations
endorsing Fernandez are Latino
Peace Officers Association, and
Mexicano Unidos.
Since its inception at Fresno State eight years ago, the La Rar.a
Studies Program has relied heavily on student support for its survival
as well as its direction.
In times of dire need-such as the abolishmen_t of the progrr1970 which was countered with physical response, and the fi~
departmentalization in 1975 which was highlighted by a five-d,
in-students have rallied to create and maintain an academi
proach to the history, culture, and future of Raza.
Such direct and no-nonsense approaches to La Raza Studies'
problems may have left an image of the Chicano student movement
.t hat some people refuse to recognize on its true merits. At the time,.
those methods may have been the most effective to get people to sci$
what was happening.
Raza
Now La
Studies faces another major obstacle-but not as
visible to those if us outside the politics of the university-which
could lead to the end of/ the program. ,
If Chicano students-or anyone who understands the necessity and
value of the program-still w,nt the program ... we must come out for
it now ...NOW. _
You won't have to throw any rocks at any windows; you won't have
to storm any buildings and occupy them; you _won't have to stage
Senate to
determine
minority fate
Wednesday, May 4, the
Associated Student Senate will
meet in the College Union- to
consider the 1977-78 proposed
budget, as recommended by the
Budget and Finance Committee.
Some of the programs, which
are being considered for funding,
includes: Semana de la Raza,
Black History Week, Amer-asian
and Tewaquachi- week, Human
Potentialists, Gay Peoples
Union, The Collegian, La Voz,
and the Uhuru.
The senate meeting will begin
at 7: 00 a .m. in the College Union
and those interested should attend.
Dedication
plan for
mural
Dedication ceremonies for a
mural painted by Fresno
Chicanas will be held at the
Parlier Migrant Labor Camp on
May 15.
The mural, which depicts
Chicano history from a woman's
perspective, was painted on
panels at the C~ntro Hurtado in
Fresno and will be transported to
the labor camp at Parlier and
Academy avenues, north of
Manning Avenue.
and teas, saying,
of Mexican dirt.
"We will take care of you now,
I tell her chorizc kills, but she
,e ats on,
grandmother."
letting globs of thick blooc;l
flow down her chin.
At home, we take care of her,
"Come and live with us, grandgive her parties.
mother," I say,
Father buys a cane to prop her
but she answers with the full _ arms_,
weight of a house,
brother, in wood shop,
and fingers that long ago gave
·
smooths out a walking square
up.
•
to pace the limits of her world.
Then summer comes anointing
her bones,
bringing birds again pecking
grasses from her door,
so I gather he_r collection of
sweaters
and bottle perscriptions,
gather her hands, emptied often
of spoons
And without her, the house goes
on,
dressing itself up with Springs
and Summers,
and days, and the need
of collecting no more.
V .L. Martinez
mass demonstrali~i~ffl
ffl enfary
What is needed is a strong show of support for the program and a
response to some of the movidas which are being pulled on us and our
supporters throughout the university.
Find a place in your schedule for La Raza Studies courses and take
note of the university's policies regarding the cutback of t~nured
faculty members in departments whose enrollments are declining.
It really is difficult to convey to you-fellow Chicanos, fellow
students-the implications behind this story. You've heard all kinds of
ruckus relating to enrollment decline, budget cuts as a result, policy
revisions, etc., etc., etc ....and you may well not feel the pinch that is
coming down on La Raza Studies, or feel that it really is not going to
bear on your overall academic pursuits at this university.
But behind all the smoke rests the guns which are pointing at its
victims: us. These cutbacks are unjustifiably coming down on our
heads.
It's as simple as this: because of enrollment decline, fulltime
equivalency (FTE )-the method used by the state to budget money to
the university according to its enrollment-is cut back.
Therefore, we find that we shall distribute this cutback throughout
our university on that same basis: if your enrollment is down, you
gotta go. So, the university re-allocates its tenure faculty positions.
And we find such programs as La Raza Stuc:p.es, which are refused
status of departmentalization or prerequisite credit for its courses,
falling into a trap because students can't take many of its courses and
get the credit ther need for their respective field.
What their saying i$ "as soon as you get more students, we'll give
you more credits, tenured faculty, etc.'' But-the program can't even
draw the students because it doesn't have the necessary credits or
tenured facuity to truly build something will draw.
As La Raza Studies Program director Alex Saragoza stated at a
recent meeting in which students were demanding clarification on the
matter: "It's the chicken and the egg th~g. Which comes first?"
Furthermore, this FTE deal is saying: tenure is no longer based on
merit as the primary consideration. Rather, enrollment is the number
one criteria.
·
This means also that we stand to lose some of our non-Chicano
friends in various PQSitions throughout the university: lood instructors, individuals, who were at our side in times of distress, or in
shows of solidarity for our cause. We cannot let them down.
One way of illustrating this concern is like this:
_
A professor who received an evaluation of "fair" but is in a
"growing" department" is more guaranteed a position than ·an
"excellent" rated professor whose departm_e nt's enrollment is on the
downs.
Or ... still another way .. .its money th~t matters here ...not quality.
.
What can you do?
One way ~ help the situation is direct your priorities to include a La
Raza Studies course in your schedule.
(There really shouldn't be a need to discuss the real reaso!]S why
you might consider taking the courses. Hopefully, the value is obvious, especially considering the fact that no matter what field you go
into, you're going to deal with Chicanos and other minorities and it
would be wise to have some insight to our lives.)
Other methods include listening to faculty groups such as the
United Professors of California as they taclde the issue; or initiating a
petition revolving around the issue to demonstrate to the administration that we feel there is a better way to ~ with the
problem.
.
No, maybe we don't n~ to resort to our more physical methods of
the past.... but we can't Just sit back.
If La Raza Studies goes, so does a major portion of our "Investment" in -recent years ...all down the drain.
-TomUrlbet
Staff Writer
emano
- Chi.canit-os,take up the culture
Reading a proclamation signed
by Gov. Jerry Brown, Leo
Gallegos officially opened
Monday Semana de la RazaFresno State's observance of
Cinco de Mayo.
The week-long celebrations
note the anniversary of the
Mexican defeat of French forces
in 1862 which brought security to
Mexico by quelling a possible
invasion.
Semana has become a yearly
fete planned and carried out by
MEChA members. It is funded
through the Associated Student
Senate.
Current chairperson is Sandy
Ramirez.
..k.,bbllL.
EL MANIOSO
there's nothing
like it
,
after dinner
or late breakfasts
(how slowly
your eyes closed
as you ate; ·
how gently
you parted
the omelet or hot sandwich,
smelling them as if
they were flowers),
after sitting near
the lake ( the tiers of thin clouds
changing from
red to purple,
the sun lowering behind them),
after having lain
with you in
the comfortable apartment
of rugs, stereos and lunar glows
(there were shadows
on your cheeks and shoulders,
uneven shadows, light blotches
really, like those
on the moon;
and your hair
fell like
a dark waterfall
past the soft stones
of your shoulders),
after listening to you
speak of your son
(how sorry
that he's without a father,
how sorry
that you bore him
alone, baptised him
on that sweltering day
when everyone's sweat
ran as if
their bodies were weeping ... ),
and after leaving
you at the door,
the dawn playing
with the part in your robe,
the sun rises
and lights my way
to another's house,
another who smiles
and serves breakfast and
squeezes my crotch
like an orange· (her sheets
have flowers on them,
her candles smell sweet,
her breasts tumble
to me, their color
like brown sugar),
another who's there
in the~meanwhile,
who waits
and asks of you,
who hopes well
for your son,
another who wishes
i would not leave_. ..
there's nothing
like it
Leonard Adame
(from: entrance 4 chicano poets)
LA vaz
DE
>
AZTLAN
Tuesday. May 3. 197?
LXXX/92
A special edition of
THE ,COLLEGtAN
California State University, Fresno
Que curiosa es la vida,
Queremos y no queremos,
- - - - - --Rechazamos y a c e p t a m o s - - - - - - - - - : 0 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -....
Aceptamos y rechazamos
Queremos saber pa'
desilusionamos awi
mas y asi tomar wia
Determinacion definitiva
o se suicida, o se
Rebels concientemente
A favor de la justicia.
Armadina Garza
Alvino Fran co 1st prize
Avino Franco, a student at
CSUF, is the first prize winner
($25.ClO) of La Voz' art contest.
His drawing takes up La Voz'
front page this issue. Avino also
won second prize ($15.00) while
third prize ($10.00) goes to Joel
-Garcia of Fresno.
POR Ml QUERIDO HERMANITO
My little brother
with the curious mind.
"A scientist", is what you want to be.
My Chlcanlto brother with your high aspirations at the age of nine.
The power owned.by the dominate society can destroy your mind.
Prejudice, exploitation, discrimination, if only you could see.
For already you have refused to eat because of the lunch tickets
that make you feel ashamed.
But, you my little brother are not to blame.
I too know that being _poor and different can cause much pain.
Mi querldo, my heart cries out in pain for you.
Tears that fall softly from my eyes, blinding my sight, but never,
no never, from the pain you a~e going through.
But, there is hope. listen little brother.
are Chicanos, and have a power above no other.
W-e are heirs to a spiritual power, handed down to us by our ancestors.
Listen carefully to the wind, con you hear their chanting lures.?
;-
~
Of love, and peace, that mylove, is their song
For I know that the end of our oppression will not be long.
by VICKIE VARELA
Alvino Franco
West Side Los Banos
The sun goes downThe ravines of Pacheco Pass darken.
Warm air glides off the oarched hills
And across the west side.
Heat rises from t-he short grasses
Into night. Smog, above 152. will drift
Onto the counters of abandoned
fruitstands,
The windshields of junked cars.
Joel Garcia
Tonight, once more, foxtails swish ,
Rabbits dart from under the owl,
Ants enter the yawning beak of crow,
And sage, on barbed fences,
Strain to pull away from this earth
Like the housewives, caught in Los Banos,
Who want to pack up and call it quits.
Gary Soto
''Someone Beats At My Heart"
With The Dark Eyes Of Spring
Ailing in Guadalajara,
in the half sun of dead Gods; ·
searching the mind of voices
I escape going nowhere.
A girl in a nightgown with tiny
feet
keeps watch.
I'm lost in my blood.
Outside my window
the world grunts.
Vendors peddle in wooden. carts
the universe.
I live while death dances.
On the other side of the street
without sleep mariachis bite
carniverous laments ; prostitutes
move
into vastness like a sultry cold
airand the hizz of food cooking adds to the obstinate wail of life
Living here adds discontent
the ritual to life ' , pa:nful
and one must h aI n Lv c.1cc1.e t t
things.
I remember my loneliness
there in that city.
Even the Quiet Castilian nights
assemble like numberless nip pies.
There where
I searched for the Gods
in the gunsigh ts of
gentle,
poems.
omar salinas March 6, 76
student support
Raza gains
down - the drain ?
MEChA to .elect officers May 12
Three students have entered
the race for the MEChA
presidency which will be decided
in an election May 12.
The presidential candidates
are Pablo Espinosa, Jr., Adrian
Garcia, and Juan Mendoza.
Espinoza and Garcia are
political newcomers to MEChA
offices but Mendoza is currently
serving as vice-president.
President Denise Torres -said\
MEChA will break from tradition
this year and conduct the elections during a MEChA meeting
May _l2.
"This is so people who have
been attending and are aware of
MEChA's current issues will
vote," she said.
The newly elected officers will
take office May 30 and will direct
MEChA for both semesters next
year.
Two new offices were created
for this election. They are
corresponding secretary and a
second sargeant-at-arms.
Running for the vice-president
position are Sam Benavides and
Cindy Cabrera. Benavides has
served as MEChA sargeant-atarms in the past while Ms.
Cabrera is an officer of Las
Adelitas, the campus Chicana
club.
Treasurer candidates are Irma
Garza and Elma Mejia.
The only candidate for the
''regular'' secretary spot is
Marty Gomez.
Also running unopposed is
Alicia Ramirez who seeks the
position of corresponding
secretary.
Sargeant-at-arms candidates
are Jay Sepulveda, Luis Rendon,
and Frank Hidalgo.
Frank Fernandez
The 14"resno Mexican American
Political Association (MAPA)
has joined the Fresno City
College MEChA and other
Chicano organizations in enfdorsing Frank Fernandez for
Fresno City Council.
Fernandez is the only Chicano
candidate in a field of 10 persons
who are seeking the seat vacated
by Al Villa when he was appointed Fresno Municipal Court
Judge two months ago.
A special election will be held
May 31.
Manuel
Perez,
MAPA
president, said Monday Fernandez was endorsed because of
his extensive experience in the
community-both Chicano and
non-Chicano oriented.
"He has some solutions
beneficial to not only the
Chicano, but all Fresno citizens,"
said Perez. "He has experience
in the business world but he's
sensitive to people-problems ... ''
Contacted Monday, Fernandez
told La Voz he regards his insurance business as a service to
people.
"Money is secondary,,. said
Fernandez. "I could make three
times the money, but I'd rather
h~~P people."
GRANDMOTHER
At my grandmothers house
the wind brecks sudden · on
windows
and waking is a bed of morning,
a chest filled with dust.
I tell her the heater needs a filter,
she stops, looks at my youth,
them shrugs to the back yard and
cuts weeks.
From the window I see hands
Pull at her from earth, and winter
falling on her warm breath.
At noon she comes back with her
arms
bruised where blood dammed up,
for her chorizc without egg
and water tinged with the taste
.r·ernancez owns and operates
his own insurance business:
Fernandez Insurance Agency in
Fresno. Born in Crows Landing
(Ca.), and raised in Patterson,
Fernandez came to Fresno in
1952 and attended Fresno State
College.
After serving in the ·Korean
War, he graduated from Heald
Business College in San Francisco. He returned to Fresno in
1958, after meeting his wife to be,
Evangelina.
His residency in Fresno since
then has included involvement in
various community activities
such as current membership i in
the Urban Planning Task Force,
the
Capitol
Improvement
Committee, and the Neighborhood Council. He was a
member of 1975-76 Grand Jury.
Fern-andez' days with tee
grand jury included initiating the
improvement of the Fresno
P>unty Jail kitchen.
He feels one of the main issues
of his candidacy deals with urban
growth and the neglect of
downtown Fresno and West
Fresno.
·
Other Chicano organizations
endorsing Fernandez are Latino
Peace Officers Association, and
Mexicano Unidos.
Since its inception at Fresno State eight years ago, the La Rar.a
Studies Program has relied heavily on student support for its survival
as well as its direction.
In times of dire need-such as the abolishmen_t of the progrr1970 which was countered with physical response, and the fi~
departmentalization in 1975 which was highlighted by a five-d,
in-students have rallied to create and maintain an academi
proach to the history, culture, and future of Raza.
Such direct and no-nonsense approaches to La Raza Studies'
problems may have left an image of the Chicano student movement
.t hat some people refuse to recognize on its true merits. At the time,.
those methods may have been the most effective to get people to sci$
what was happening.
Raza
Now La
Studies faces another major obstacle-but not as
visible to those if us outside the politics of the university-which
could lead to the end of/ the program. ,
If Chicano students-or anyone who understands the necessity and
value of the program-still w,nt the program ... we must come out for
it now ...NOW. _
You won't have to throw any rocks at any windows; you won't have
to storm any buildings and occupy them; you _won't have to stage
Senate to
determine
minority fate
Wednesday, May 4, the
Associated Student Senate will
meet in the College Union- to
consider the 1977-78 proposed
budget, as recommended by the
Budget and Finance Committee.
Some of the programs, which
are being considered for funding,
includes: Semana de la Raza,
Black History Week, Amer-asian
and Tewaquachi- week, Human
Potentialists, Gay Peoples
Union, The Collegian, La Voz,
and the Uhuru.
The senate meeting will begin
at 7: 00 a .m. in the College Union
and those interested should attend.
Dedication
plan for
mural
Dedication ceremonies for a
mural painted by Fresno
Chicanas will be held at the
Parlier Migrant Labor Camp on
May 15.
The mural, which depicts
Chicano history from a woman's
perspective, was painted on
panels at the C~ntro Hurtado in
Fresno and will be transported to
the labor camp at Parlier and
Academy avenues, north of
Manning Avenue.
and teas, saying,
of Mexican dirt.
"We will take care of you now,
I tell her chorizc kills, but she
,e ats on,
grandmother."
letting globs of thick blooc;l
flow down her chin.
At home, we take care of her,
"Come and live with us, grandgive her parties.
mother," I say,
Father buys a cane to prop her
but she answers with the full _ arms_,
weight of a house,
brother, in wood shop,
and fingers that long ago gave
·
smooths out a walking square
up.
•
to pace the limits of her world.
Then summer comes anointing
her bones,
bringing birds again pecking
grasses from her door,
so I gather he_r collection of
sweaters
and bottle perscriptions,
gather her hands, emptied often
of spoons
And without her, the house goes
on,
dressing itself up with Springs
and Summers,
and days, and the need
of collecting no more.
V .L. Martinez
mass demonstrali~i~ffl
ffl enfary
What is needed is a strong show of support for the program and a
response to some of the movidas which are being pulled on us and our
supporters throughout the university.
Find a place in your schedule for La Raza Studies courses and take
note of the university's policies regarding the cutback of t~nured
faculty members in departments whose enrollments are declining.
It really is difficult to convey to you-fellow Chicanos, fellow
students-the implications behind this story. You've heard all kinds of
ruckus relating to enrollment decline, budget cuts as a result, policy
revisions, etc., etc., etc ....and you may well not feel the pinch that is
coming down on La Raza Studies, or feel that it really is not going to
bear on your overall academic pursuits at this university.
But behind all the smoke rests the guns which are pointing at its
victims: us. These cutbacks are unjustifiably coming down on our
heads.
It's as simple as this: because of enrollment decline, fulltime
equivalency (FTE )-the method used by the state to budget money to
the university according to its enrollment-is cut back.
Therefore, we find that we shall distribute this cutback throughout
our university on that same basis: if your enrollment is down, you
gotta go. So, the university re-allocates its tenure faculty positions.
And we find such programs as La Raza Stuc:p.es, which are refused
status of departmentalization or prerequisite credit for its courses,
falling into a trap because students can't take many of its courses and
get the credit ther need for their respective field.
What their saying i$ "as soon as you get more students, we'll give
you more credits, tenured faculty, etc.'' But-the program can't even
draw the students because it doesn't have the necessary credits or
tenured facuity to truly build something will draw.
As La Raza Studies Program director Alex Saragoza stated at a
recent meeting in which students were demanding clarification on the
matter: "It's the chicken and the egg th~g. Which comes first?"
Furthermore, this FTE deal is saying: tenure is no longer based on
merit as the primary consideration. Rather, enrollment is the number
one criteria.
·
This means also that we stand to lose some of our non-Chicano
friends in various PQSitions throughout the university: lood instructors, individuals, who were at our side in times of distress, or in
shows of solidarity for our cause. We cannot let them down.
One way of illustrating this concern is like this:
_
A professor who received an evaluation of "fair" but is in a
"growing" department" is more guaranteed a position than ·an
"excellent" rated professor whose departm_e nt's enrollment is on the
downs.
Or ... still another way .. .its money th~t matters here ...not quality.
.
What can you do?
One way ~ help the situation is direct your priorities to include a La
Raza Studies course in your schedule.
(There really shouldn't be a need to discuss the real reaso!]S why
you might consider taking the courses. Hopefully, the value is obvious, especially considering the fact that no matter what field you go
into, you're going to deal with Chicanos and other minorities and it
would be wise to have some insight to our lives.)
Other methods include listening to faculty groups such as the
United Professors of California as they taclde the issue; or initiating a
petition revolving around the issue to demonstrate to the administration that we feel there is a better way to ~ with the
problem.
.
No, maybe we don't n~ to resort to our more physical methods of
the past.... but we can't Just sit back.
If La Raza Studies goes, so does a major portion of our "Investment" in -recent years ...all down the drain.
-TomUrlbet
Staff Writer
emano
- Chi.canit-os,take up the culture
Reading a proclamation signed
by Gov. Jerry Brown, Leo
Gallegos officially opened
Monday Semana de la RazaFresno State's observance of
Cinco de Mayo.
The week-long celebrations
note the anniversary of the
Mexican defeat of French forces
in 1862 which brought security to
Mexico by quelling a possible
invasion.
Semana has become a yearly
fete planned and carried out by
MEChA members. It is funded
through the Associated Student
Senate.
Current chairperson is Sandy
Ramirez.
..k.,bbllL.
EL MANIOSO
there's nothing
like it
,
after dinner
or late breakfasts
(how slowly
your eyes closed
as you ate; ·
how gently
you parted
the omelet or hot sandwich,
smelling them as if
they were flowers),
after sitting near
the lake ( the tiers of thin clouds
changing from
red to purple,
the sun lowering behind them),
after having lain
with you in
the comfortable apartment
of rugs, stereos and lunar glows
(there were shadows
on your cheeks and shoulders,
uneven shadows, light blotches
really, like those
on the moon;
and your hair
fell like
a dark waterfall
past the soft stones
of your shoulders),
after listening to you
speak of your son
(how sorry
that he's without a father,
how sorry
that you bore him
alone, baptised him
on that sweltering day
when everyone's sweat
ran as if
their bodies were weeping ... ),
and after leaving
you at the door,
the dawn playing
with the part in your robe,
the sun rises
and lights my way
to another's house,
another who smiles
and serves breakfast and
squeezes my crotch
like an orange· (her sheets
have flowers on them,
her candles smell sweet,
her breasts tumble
to me, their color
like brown sugar),
another who's there
in the~meanwhile,
who waits
and asks of you,
who hopes well
for your son,
another who wishes
i would not leave_. ..
there's nothing
like it
Leonard Adame
(from: entrance 4 chicano poets)
DE
>
AZTLAN
Tuesday. May 3. 197?
LXXX/92
A special edition of
THE ,COLLEGtAN
California State University, Fresno
Que curiosa es la vida,
Queremos y no queremos,
- - - - - --Rechazamos y a c e p t a m o s - - - - - - - - - : 0 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -....
Aceptamos y rechazamos
Queremos saber pa'
desilusionamos awi
mas y asi tomar wia
Determinacion definitiva
o se suicida, o se
Rebels concientemente
A favor de la justicia.
Armadina Garza
Alvino Fran co 1st prize
Avino Franco, a student at
CSUF, is the first prize winner
($25.ClO) of La Voz' art contest.
His drawing takes up La Voz'
front page this issue. Avino also
won second prize ($15.00) while
third prize ($10.00) goes to Joel
-Garcia of Fresno.
POR Ml QUERIDO HERMANITO
My little brother
with the curious mind.
"A scientist", is what you want to be.
My Chlcanlto brother with your high aspirations at the age of nine.
The power owned.by the dominate society can destroy your mind.
Prejudice, exploitation, discrimination, if only you could see.
For already you have refused to eat because of the lunch tickets
that make you feel ashamed.
But, you my little brother are not to blame.
I too know that being _poor and different can cause much pain.
Mi querldo, my heart cries out in pain for you.
Tears that fall softly from my eyes, blinding my sight, but never,
no never, from the pain you a~e going through.
But, there is hope. listen little brother.
are Chicanos, and have a power above no other.
W-e are heirs to a spiritual power, handed down to us by our ancestors.
Listen carefully to the wind, con you hear their chanting lures.?
;-
~
Of love, and peace, that mylove, is their song
For I know that the end of our oppression will not be long.
by VICKIE VARELA
Alvino Franco
West Side Los Banos
The sun goes downThe ravines of Pacheco Pass darken.
Warm air glides off the oarched hills
And across the west side.
Heat rises from t-he short grasses
Into night. Smog, above 152. will drift
Onto the counters of abandoned
fruitstands,
The windshields of junked cars.
Joel Garcia
Tonight, once more, foxtails swish ,
Rabbits dart from under the owl,
Ants enter the yawning beak of crow,
And sage, on barbed fences,
Strain to pull away from this earth
Like the housewives, caught in Los Banos,
Who want to pack up and call it quits.
Gary Soto
''Someone Beats At My Heart"
With The Dark Eyes Of Spring
Ailing in Guadalajara,
in the half sun of dead Gods; ·
searching the mind of voices
I escape going nowhere.
A girl in a nightgown with tiny
feet
keeps watch.
I'm lost in my blood.
Outside my window
the world grunts.
Vendors peddle in wooden. carts
the universe.
I live while death dances.
On the other side of the street
without sleep mariachis bite
carniverous laments ; prostitutes
move
into vastness like a sultry cold
airand the hizz of food cooking adds to the obstinate wail of life
Living here adds discontent
the ritual to life ' , pa:nful
and one must h aI n Lv c.1cc1.e t t
things.
I remember my loneliness
there in that city.
Even the Quiet Castilian nights
assemble like numberless nip pies.
There where
I searched for the Gods
in the gunsigh ts of
gentle,
poems.
omar salinas March 6, 76
student support
Raza gains
down - the drain ?
MEChA to .elect officers May 12
Three students have entered
the race for the MEChA
presidency which will be decided
in an election May 12.
The presidential candidates
are Pablo Espinosa, Jr., Adrian
Garcia, and Juan Mendoza.
Espinoza and Garcia are
political newcomers to MEChA
offices but Mendoza is currently
serving as vice-president.
President Denise Torres -said\
MEChA will break from tradition
this year and conduct the elections during a MEChA meeting
May _l2.
"This is so people who have
been attending and are aware of
MEChA's current issues will
vote," she said.
The newly elected officers will
take office May 30 and will direct
MEChA for both semesters next
year.
Two new offices were created
for this election. They are
corresponding secretary and a
second sargeant-at-arms.
Running for the vice-president
position are Sam Benavides and
Cindy Cabrera. Benavides has
served as MEChA sargeant-atarms in the past while Ms.
Cabrera is an officer of Las
Adelitas, the campus Chicana
club.
Treasurer candidates are Irma
Garza and Elma Mejia.
The only candidate for the
''regular'' secretary spot is
Marty Gomez.
Also running unopposed is
Alicia Ramirez who seeks the
position of corresponding
secretary.
Sargeant-at-arms candidates
are Jay Sepulveda, Luis Rendon,
and Frank Hidalgo.
Frank Fernandez
The 14"resno Mexican American
Political Association (MAPA)
has joined the Fresno City
College MEChA and other
Chicano organizations in enfdorsing Frank Fernandez for
Fresno City Council.
Fernandez is the only Chicano
candidate in a field of 10 persons
who are seeking the seat vacated
by Al Villa when he was appointed Fresno Municipal Court
Judge two months ago.
A special election will be held
May 31.
Manuel
Perez,
MAPA
president, said Monday Fernandez was endorsed because of
his extensive experience in the
community-both Chicano and
non-Chicano oriented.
"He has some solutions
beneficial to not only the
Chicano, but all Fresno citizens,"
said Perez. "He has experience
in the business world but he's
sensitive to people-problems ... ''
Contacted Monday, Fernandez
told La Voz he regards his insurance business as a service to
people.
"Money is secondary,,. said
Fernandez. "I could make three
times the money, but I'd rather
h~~P people."
GRANDMOTHER
At my grandmothers house
the wind brecks sudden · on
windows
and waking is a bed of morning,
a chest filled with dust.
I tell her the heater needs a filter,
she stops, looks at my youth,
them shrugs to the back yard and
cuts weeks.
From the window I see hands
Pull at her from earth, and winter
falling on her warm breath.
At noon she comes back with her
arms
bruised where blood dammed up,
for her chorizc without egg
and water tinged with the taste
.r·ernancez owns and operates
his own insurance business:
Fernandez Insurance Agency in
Fresno. Born in Crows Landing
(Ca.), and raised in Patterson,
Fernandez came to Fresno in
1952 and attended Fresno State
College.
After serving in the ·Korean
War, he graduated from Heald
Business College in San Francisco. He returned to Fresno in
1958, after meeting his wife to be,
Evangelina.
His residency in Fresno since
then has included involvement in
various community activities
such as current membership i in
the Urban Planning Task Force,
the
Capitol
Improvement
Committee, and the Neighborhood Council. He was a
member of 1975-76 Grand Jury.
Fern-andez' days with tee
grand jury included initiating the
improvement of the Fresno
P>unty Jail kitchen.
He feels one of the main issues
of his candidacy deals with urban
growth and the neglect of
downtown Fresno and West
Fresno.
·
Other Chicano organizations
endorsing Fernandez are Latino
Peace Officers Association, and
Mexicano Unidos.
Since its inception at Fresno State eight years ago, the La Rar.a
Studies Program has relied heavily on student support for its survival
as well as its direction.
In times of dire need-such as the abolishmen_t of the progrr1970 which was countered with physical response, and the fi~
departmentalization in 1975 which was highlighted by a five-d,
in-students have rallied to create and maintain an academi
proach to the history, culture, and future of Raza.
Such direct and no-nonsense approaches to La Raza Studies'
problems may have left an image of the Chicano student movement
.t hat some people refuse to recognize on its true merits. At the time,.
those methods may have been the most effective to get people to sci$
what was happening.
Raza
Now La
Studies faces another major obstacle-but not as
visible to those if us outside the politics of the university-which
could lead to the end of/ the program. ,
If Chicano students-or anyone who understands the necessity and
value of the program-still w,nt the program ... we must come out for
it now ...NOW. _
You won't have to throw any rocks at any windows; you won't have
to storm any buildings and occupy them; you _won't have to stage
Senate to
determine
minority fate
Wednesday, May 4, the
Associated Student Senate will
meet in the College Union- to
consider the 1977-78 proposed
budget, as recommended by the
Budget and Finance Committee.
Some of the programs, which
are being considered for funding,
includes: Semana de la Raza,
Black History Week, Amer-asian
and Tewaquachi- week, Human
Potentialists, Gay Peoples
Union, The Collegian, La Voz,
and the Uhuru.
The senate meeting will begin
at 7: 00 a .m. in the College Union
and those interested should attend.
Dedication
plan for
mural
Dedication ceremonies for a
mural painted by Fresno
Chicanas will be held at the
Parlier Migrant Labor Camp on
May 15.
The mural, which depicts
Chicano history from a woman's
perspective, was painted on
panels at the C~ntro Hurtado in
Fresno and will be transported to
the labor camp at Parlier and
Academy avenues, north of
Manning Avenue.
and teas, saying,
of Mexican dirt.
"We will take care of you now,
I tell her chorizc kills, but she
,e ats on,
grandmother."
letting globs of thick blooc;l
flow down her chin.
At home, we take care of her,
"Come and live with us, grandgive her parties.
mother," I say,
Father buys a cane to prop her
but she answers with the full _ arms_,
weight of a house,
brother, in wood shop,
and fingers that long ago gave
·
smooths out a walking square
up.
•
to pace the limits of her world.
Then summer comes anointing
her bones,
bringing birds again pecking
grasses from her door,
so I gather he_r collection of
sweaters
and bottle perscriptions,
gather her hands, emptied often
of spoons
And without her, the house goes
on,
dressing itself up with Springs
and Summers,
and days, and the need
of collecting no more.
V .L. Martinez
mass demonstrali~i~ffl
ffl enfary
What is needed is a strong show of support for the program and a
response to some of the movidas which are being pulled on us and our
supporters throughout the university.
Find a place in your schedule for La Raza Studies courses and take
note of the university's policies regarding the cutback of t~nured
faculty members in departments whose enrollments are declining.
It really is difficult to convey to you-fellow Chicanos, fellow
students-the implications behind this story. You've heard all kinds of
ruckus relating to enrollment decline, budget cuts as a result, policy
revisions, etc., etc., etc ....and you may well not feel the pinch that is
coming down on La Raza Studies, or feel that it really is not going to
bear on your overall academic pursuits at this university.
But behind all the smoke rests the guns which are pointing at its
victims: us. These cutbacks are unjustifiably coming down on our
heads.
It's as simple as this: because of enrollment decline, fulltime
equivalency (FTE )-the method used by the state to budget money to
the university according to its enrollment-is cut back.
Therefore, we find that we shall distribute this cutback throughout
our university on that same basis: if your enrollment is down, you
gotta go. So, the university re-allocates its tenure faculty positions.
And we find such programs as La Raza Stuc:p.es, which are refused
status of departmentalization or prerequisite credit for its courses,
falling into a trap because students can't take many of its courses and
get the credit ther need for their respective field.
What their saying i$ "as soon as you get more students, we'll give
you more credits, tenured faculty, etc.'' But-the program can't even
draw the students because it doesn't have the necessary credits or
tenured facuity to truly build something will draw.
As La Raza Studies Program director Alex Saragoza stated at a
recent meeting in which students were demanding clarification on the
matter: "It's the chicken and the egg th~g. Which comes first?"
Furthermore, this FTE deal is saying: tenure is no longer based on
merit as the primary consideration. Rather, enrollment is the number
one criteria.
·
This means also that we stand to lose some of our non-Chicano
friends in various PQSitions throughout the university: lood instructors, individuals, who were at our side in times of distress, or in
shows of solidarity for our cause. We cannot let them down.
One way of illustrating this concern is like this:
_
A professor who received an evaluation of "fair" but is in a
"growing" department" is more guaranteed a position than ·an
"excellent" rated professor whose departm_e nt's enrollment is on the
downs.
Or ... still another way .. .its money th~t matters here ...not quality.
.
What can you do?
One way ~ help the situation is direct your priorities to include a La
Raza Studies course in your schedule.
(There really shouldn't be a need to discuss the real reaso!]S why
you might consider taking the courses. Hopefully, the value is obvious, especially considering the fact that no matter what field you go
into, you're going to deal with Chicanos and other minorities and it
would be wise to have some insight to our lives.)
Other methods include listening to faculty groups such as the
United Professors of California as they taclde the issue; or initiating a
petition revolving around the issue to demonstrate to the administration that we feel there is a better way to ~ with the
problem.
.
No, maybe we don't n~ to resort to our more physical methods of
the past.... but we can't Just sit back.
If La Raza Studies goes, so does a major portion of our "Investment" in -recent years ...all down the drain.
-TomUrlbet
Staff Writer
emano
- Chi.canit-os,take up the culture
Reading a proclamation signed
by Gov. Jerry Brown, Leo
Gallegos officially opened
Monday Semana de la RazaFresno State's observance of
Cinco de Mayo.
The week-long celebrations
note the anniversary of the
Mexican defeat of French forces
in 1862 which brought security to
Mexico by quelling a possible
invasion.
Semana has become a yearly
fete planned and carried out by
MEChA members. It is funded
through the Associated Student
Senate.
Current chairperson is Sandy
Ramirez.
..k.,bbllL.
EL MANIOSO
there's nothing
like it
,
after dinner
or late breakfasts
(how slowly
your eyes closed
as you ate; ·
how gently
you parted
the omelet or hot sandwich,
smelling them as if
they were flowers),
after sitting near
the lake ( the tiers of thin clouds
changing from
red to purple,
the sun lowering behind them),
after having lain
with you in
the comfortable apartment
of rugs, stereos and lunar glows
(there were shadows
on your cheeks and shoulders,
uneven shadows, light blotches
really, like those
on the moon;
and your hair
fell like
a dark waterfall
past the soft stones
of your shoulders),
after listening to you
speak of your son
(how sorry
that he's without a father,
how sorry
that you bore him
alone, baptised him
on that sweltering day
when everyone's sweat
ran as if
their bodies were weeping ... ),
and after leaving
you at the door,
the dawn playing
with the part in your robe,
the sun rises
and lights my way
to another's house,
another who smiles
and serves breakfast and
squeezes my crotch
like an orange· (her sheets
have flowers on them,
her candles smell sweet,
her breasts tumble
to me, their color
like brown sugar),
another who's there
in the~meanwhile,
who waits
and asks of you,
who hopes well
for your son,
another who wishes
i would not leave_. ..
there's nothing
like it
Leonard Adame
(from: entrance 4 chicano poets)