Minneapolis, MN – On August 9, hundreds of activists and intellectuals gathered at Northrop mall on the University of Minnesota -Twin Cities campus for a memorial rally and march in honor of Jesús Estrada-Pérez, who passed away earlier that week.

Jesús, a PhD Candidate in American Studies at the University of Minnesota (UMN), was heavily involved in activism at the university, where he helped lead the struggle to save the Chicano Studies Department and to demand racial justice from the university administration.

Just in the past semester, Estrada-Pérez organized and participated in two militant actions on campus: an occupation of UMN’s administration building with Whose Diversity?, where he was one of the 13 occupiers arrested on trespassing charges, and a banner drop off of the front of the student center on Cinco De Mayo, which read “Fund Chicano Studies: One hire is not enough.”

Those actions were crucial in pressuring the administration to begin making concessions on these issues in recent months, though activists are continuing the struggle because the small amount of progress made is not nearly enough.

Additionally, Jesús was a founding member of Queers and Unicorns Resisting Every Limit (QAUREL) and helped create a radical and activist-minded LGBTQ movement in the Twin Cities.

Jesús touched the lives of many students, staff and faculty through his teaching, writing and presence on campus. Organizers of the event and attendees alike made particular note of Jesús' activism. After a program during which several speakers acknowledged his impact on both their lives and their activism, the crowd marched across campus to Coffman Memorial Union while chanting “Jesús, presente! La lucha sigue!” and “Jesús, presente! Ahora, siempre!” Some marchers carried signs demanding action on the issues Estrada-Pérez organized around.

The Department of Chicano Studies and Department of American Studies have decided to retain Jesús’ desk and mailbox and have constructed a memorial altar in Scott Hall, which includes a banner recognizing his lead role in the banner drop in support of Chicano Studies earlier in the spring.

The Twin Cities activist community will continue to benefit from Jesús Estrada-Pérez’s life and activism and, likewise, will continue to honor his life by carrying forward the struggles he dedicated himself to.

Jesús Estrada-Pérez ¡Presente!

#MinneapolisMN #StudentMovement #LGBTQ #Remembrances #ChicanoLatino #UniversityOfMinnesota #ChicanoStudies #JesúsEstradaPérez

Minneapolis, MN – More than fifty students marched from Coffman Union to Morrill Hall today at noon. They marched to Morrill Hall, the administration building, to support a group of students that had started a sit-in in President Kaler’s office in Morrill. The students have a list of 8 demands and they have pledged to maintain the sit-in until President Kaler negotiates with them or they are arrested and removed.

The march was organized by the group Whose Diversity?, which was formed last school year to fight against institutionalized oppression at the University of Minnesota. The U of MN administration talks constantly about their commitment to diversity, but Whose Diversity? and other activists on campus have decried a disconnect between the administration’s words and students’ lived experience.

The eight demands of the students sitting in are:

1. Provide the support necessary to help the Department of Chicano & Latino Studies thrive by renewing the senior full-time faculty line, increasing the outreach coordinator’s position from 50% to 100% time, and hiring two more faculty in the next year with one additional faculty hire each year until the department reaches at least eight faculty.

2. Remove descriptions of race and complexion from UMPD [U of MN Police Department] crime alerts.

3. Reverse the decision to close PsTL [Post Secondary Teaching and Learning] by the 2016-2017 academic year.

4. Initiate a cluster hire of faculty of color as per the proposal put forth in 2014 by the Consortium for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, Gender and Sexuality (RIGS).

5. Establish a program that recruits high school students from working-class neighborhoods of color in the Twin Cities.

6. Require all students to take at least one class offered in one of the three ethnic studies departments (African American and African Studies, Chicano and Latino Studies, American Indian Studies) or the Asian American Studies Program.

7. Ensure at least one restroom in every building on campus is accessible to all genders.

8. Remove language from the admissions application that questions prospective students about their prior convictions and criminal offenses, as well as their history of expulsion, suspension, and probation in their former institutions.

The struggle around the Chicano Studies Department has been particularly sharp. Students, staff, faculty and community members have been organizing since last year to save the department. Chicano Studies has been reduced to a perilous existence with only one professor. The administration has repeatedly refused to commit to hire any more professors so the department can continue to function, let alone grow.

The students are asking people to support them by contacting President Kaler's office at 612-626-1616 or emailing him at upres@umn.edu and demanding that he implement the students demands. The students are asking people to follow @WhoseDiv on Twitter and and tweet at @PrezKaler. Their hashtags are ‪#‎KalerUPromised‬ and ‪#‎MoralMarchOnMorrill‬.

#MinneapolisMN #Antiracism #ChicanoStudies #WhoseDiversity

Los Angeles, CA – Several hundred students and community members held a protest march and rally on the campus of Cal State University of Los Angeles (CSULA), Feb. 4. The protest was in response to the Academic Senate voting down, by 20 to 29, a proposal made the previous week by the Pan-African Studies Department to incorporate ‘Ethnic Studies’ as part of the General Education requirements, starting in Fall 2016.

After being silenced and shut out last week by the undemocratic actions of the CSULA Academic Senate, students and community supporters agreed that the racist university status quo that sees Ethnic Studies as an unequal academic discipline had to be challenged.

Students, along with community supporters, began a rally at the steps of the university bookstore, then began marching through the campus and onto the Martin Luther King, Jr. Hall building chanting in one collective voice: “The students united, will never be divided” “What do we want? Ethnic Studies! When do we want it? Now!”

Eventually, the students and community supporters made their way to the Golden Eagle Ballroom where the weekly Academic Senate was to be held. In a show of unity, students and community supporters were able to shut down the meeting and instead the students held their own meeting outside the doors of the Golden Eagle Ballroom.

As the Academic Senate began arriving for their scheduled meeting, the entrance to the Golden Eagle Ballroom was blocked by students and community supporters who locked arms. When Kevin Baaske, chair of the CSULA Academic Senate, arrived, students began chanting “No clickers,” reminding him of the secret vote the week before that stopped, for now, the proposal to make Ethnic Studies a General Education requirement.

Upon encountering several hundred students locked in arms, Baaske, in a condescending tone, attempted to negotiate with students by stating that he would grant 30 minutes of speaking time to the students. Well-organized and disciplined, the students refused Baaske's terms and instead told him that the meeting would be held on students' terms.

Ironically, at the previous meeting, Baaske somehow found himself powerless to offer speaking time to students and instead pushed parliamentary procedural rules to block student and community input. Yet this week, he decided he had the power to allow 30 minutes of speaking time.

As more and more Academic Senators arrived, they had no choice but to listen to dozens of students and community supporters speaking about why they needed to do the right thing and reintroduce a vote in favor of making Ethnic Studies a part of the General Education requirements.

Speaker after speaker emphasized the urgent need to make Ethnic Studies part of the General Education requirements. For some, it was one positive step towards addressing a legacy of institutional racism, which acknowledges that this country was built on slavery and genocide.

For others, Ethnic Studies was important because it is a tool of community empowerment and for creating a positive identity. The struggle for Ethnic Studies is part of the struggle for equality for Blacks and Chicanos.

Towards the end of the student protest meeting, a couple of professors spoke in favor of the proposal, which states in part: “At least one of the two diversity courses must be taken in one of the four Ethnic Studies/Area Studies Departments/Programs: Asian/Asian American Studies, Chicana/o Studies, Latin American Studies, or Pan African Studies.”

Unfortunately, the Chicana/o Studies Department has refused to support the proposal.

Other Academic Senators, however, weren't even paying attention to the students and were making their opposition to requiring Ethnic Studies at CSULA conspicuously obvious. Sadly, Baaske several times laughed off students' comments.

Keep in mind, moreover, that what is being proposed by the multi-national coalition of student, faculty and community is that out of the 40 classes a student must take in order to graduate from CSULA that one class be in Ethnic Studies.

On Feb. 11, the Ethnic Studies Coalition held a press conference to inform the public on the proposal to expand and improve Ethnic Studies. After the press conference, the over 100 students and supporters marched to the CSULA Academic Senate meeting. During the meeting the students gave moving and inspirational talks to the body regarding the benefits of Ethnic Studies and the experiences of racism they face in Los Angeles. No new vote was taken and the students and supporters will return to the CSULA Academic Senate meeting on Feb. 18 to continue pressing for the GE requirement from Ethnic Studies.

David Cid is a Los Angeles-based Chicano activist and educator. Cid is active in the anti-war and immigrant rights movements. He recently received his Masters in Chicano Studies at CSULA.

#LosAngelesCA #StudentMovement #ChicanoLatino #CarlosMontes #CalStateUniversityOfLosAngeles #CSULA #ChicanoStudies