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CSRC Newsletter - Spring/Summer 2024

Volume 22, Number 3

Director's Message

In recent months, division and violence at UCLA and in our nation have posed significant challenges to advancing social justice on campus, in our communities, and internationally. During these difficult times, I gain inspiration from members of our own community who have persevered in the face of adversity and worked strategically to achieve positive social change. 

One such individual is Antonia Hernández, whom I regard as one of the madrinas of Chicana/o civil rights. This spring, Hernández received the UCLA Medal and the CSRC proudly hosted the celebration.  The UCLA Medal is the university's highest honor, awarded for extraordinary accomplishments that embody UCLA’s highest ideals. Hernándezfaced significant challenges as a student activist, lawyer, and philanthropist, yet she persevered and broke new ground.

As a double Bruin, receiving her undergraduate and graduate law degree from UCLA, Hernández fought for greater representation of Chicana/os and other racial minorities in the curriculum and faculty—a struggle the CSRC continues to advance. Early in her legal career, Hernández made history by fighting for reproductive rights when she challenged the involuntary sterilization of Mexican and Mexican American women who gave birth at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. Although she lost the legal battle, her political efforts fueled a broader struggle for reproductive justice. Through her advocacy, she influenced landmark cases on voting rights, K-12 education equity, diversity in higher education, and immigrant rights. Much of this work was accomplished during her tenure as general counsel of MALDEF from 1991 to 2000. As an early champion for reproductive justice for Latinas, labor rights, and other issues affecting women of color, she paved the way for other women to advance in male-dominated fields. Additionally, at the helm of the California Community Foundation, where she served as president and then CEO for nearly two decades, she helped define civil society priorities in LA County and beyond. Antonia continues to be an influential voice in public and community debates that impact Latinx and other communities.

Antonia Hernández after being awarded the UCLA Medal, UCLA’s highest honor, on April 23.
 

The CSRC seeks to honor and build on the legacy of Antonia Hernández and other Latina leaders through our Latina Futures 2050 Lab (LFL), spearheaded by the CSRC in partnership with the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute. LFL aims to achieve greater equity and inclusion for Latinas by the year 2050 and is supporting new research on issues that Latinas face: the wage gap, health inequities, access to higher education, workers’ rights, access to childcare, grassroots organizing, civic engagement, public leadership, youth transition to adulthood, and LGBTQ+ rights, among other topics. In May, we were honored to join Hispanas Organized for Political Equity (HOPE) for Latina Action Day in Sacramento. The next day, LFL cofounder Sonja Diaz testified at the Assembly Select Committee on Latina Inequities informational hearing, titled “Economic Status of Latinas in California.” Then in June, at the Hispanics in Philanthropy annual conference, Diaz moderated the panel “Latina Futures: Holding the Line in the Face of a Chilling Effect on DEI.” In the coming months, LFL will commission additional research, implement leadership and public programming, and launch a new website. For updates on the Latina Futures 2050 Lab, join the mailing list.

Sonja Diaz (far right), Latina Futures co-founder, moderated the panel "Latina Futures: Holding the Line in the Face of a Chilling Effect on DEI," featuring Francisca Fajana (LatinoJustice PRLDEF), Carmen Rojas (Marguerite Casey Foundation), Michele Siqueiros (The Campaign for College Opportunity), and Helen Torres (Hispanas Organized for Political Equality).

The CSRC promotes Latinx issues and academic excellence on UCLA’s campus. This summer we will once again award faculty with Latinx Seed Grants, and this spring we awarded another round of Institute of American Cultures (IAC) grants and fellowships to UCLA faculty, staff, and students. In addition, for the second consecutive year, the CSRC Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) has been deeply involved in recruiting new faculty hires who will help UCLA become and succeed as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). We anticipate that approximately a dozen new CSRC-affiliated faculty members will join the campus this fall or soon after.

Building our faculty community includes celebrating their accomplishments. This spring our FAC chair Joshua Guzmán and FAC members Oliver Fregoso and Cesar Favila all earned tenure. The CSRC is pleased to report that we received a $10,000 grant from UCLA’s EDI Network to support faculty mentorship and community building. We hope that our community fosters lasting friendships, contributes to faculty retention, and inspires interdisciplinary collaborations that break new academic ground.

Left to right: Newly tenured professors Joshua Guzmán (Gender Studies), Cesar Favila (Musicology), and Oliver Fregoso (Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics).

Another exciting aspect of the CSRC’s work involves student participation in our participatory-action research. In partnership with other IAC ethnic studies research centers and with support from the UCLA Gold Shield Alumnae, California Endowment, McCune Foundation, and individual donors, a group of our students is involved in this year’s California Freedom Summer. Participatory-action research focuses on educating young voters and giving them access to youth-led research about their communities. Part of this work includes disseminating findings from the Thriving Youth Study, conducted in Oxnard, Lompoc, Santa Maria, the East Coachella Valley, Imperial Valley, and Santa Cruz County through partnerships with community colleges, local youth organizing groups, academic research partners, and other agencies. Based on this work, we will soon publish the reports through CSRC Press. This work not only spotlights important youth issues but also seeks to expand the pipeline from low-income communities and HSI community colleges to UCLA and other bachelor’s degree–granting institutions, aligning with UCLA’s strategic plan to enhance community engagement.

The CSRC is proud of the community-engaged work of our graduating student researcher Sarahy Torres, as well as Aaliyah Farias and Isaiah Clark (see more below), and we are fortunate to retain for the summer Chelsea Chan López, MSW, and Vanessa Quintero, MLIS, who recently completed their graduate degrees. We congratulate the class of 2024!

CSRC remains committed to addressing the questions and debates raised by our students, affiliated scholars, and community members, particularly as our society experiences dramatic environmental, technological, political, and social change. We appreciate your ongoing support of and engagement in our work. As we face a hot summer ahead, we hope you find joy through community and stay cool and safe. 

Veronica Terriquez
Director and Professor

 

NEWS

CSRC continues role in UCLA Latinx Infrastructure Initiative
CSRC continues its work for the university’s  Latinx Infrastructure Initiative, whose goal is to achieve the designation of UCLA as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) by 2025. In April, the CSRC hosted four candidates for CSRC’s Senior HSI STEM Faculty Director, who will lead cross-campus efforts to improve Latinx undergraduate representation in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Separately, we are thrilled to announce four new faculty members hired through the UCLA HSI Faculty Hiring Initiative: Cinthya Salazar and Julissa Muñiz will join the Department of Education, Melissa Villa-Nicholas will join the Department of Information Studies, and Nancy Alicia Martínez will join the Department of Comparative Literature. All started their positions on July 1. In the next academic year the CSRC will support faculty searches in the School of Law, the Division of Physical Sciences, the School of Nursing, the David Geffen School of Medicine, and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
 

The CSRC is also pleased to welcome five new fellows in the UCLA Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program: Mayra Cortes in the Department of English; Susana Hoyos in the Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences; Katherine Maldonado in the Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies, Julio Sánchez in the Department of Neurosurgery; and Paula Winicki Brzostowski in the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. Additionally, we extend our congratulations to the following CPFP fellows who have accepted tenure-track offers: Valeria González Díaz, incoming assistant professor of psychology at Reed College; Sylvanna Vargas, incoming assistant professor of psychology at San Diego State University; and Bernardette Pinetta, incoming assistant professor of psychology at UC Riverside. Related to these efforts, this coming fall UCLA will host UC and HSI leaders, faculty, and staff in a three-day congress and retreat. Elizabeth Gonzalez, UCLA HSI director, along with faculty and staff from the CSRC and other UCLA departments and organizations, will evaluate areas of opportunities and UC’s systemwide progress toward HSI designation.

Spring programming held for CSRC community-engaged research projects
This spring, the CSRC continued its research and programming for young people through community partnerships and participatory-action research projects. The quarter kicked off with CSRC and Future Leaders of America hosting a seminar on campus for Central Coast High School students. Eighty students were welcomed by CSRC student staff, student volunteers, and keynote speaker Chantiri Abarca, CSRC senior officer of community-engaged research. Participants learned about financial aid, admissions requirements, and student life at UCLA.
 

CSRC partnered with Future Leaders of America to host Central Coast High School students at UCLA on April 6.

Through the Thriving Youth Study and California Freedom Summer (CFS), the CSRC is offering research and training opportunities to build research capacity among young people in the community. In the Imperial Valley, through generous funding from the James Irvine Foundation, the CSRC will be partnering with the UCLA Latino Data Hub to offer interns at the Imperial Valley Equity and Justice Coalition opportunities to gain skills in quantitative data analysis, data science, and policy analysis. This is part of a larger research and community partnership that also involves Imperial Valley College, the USC Equity Research Institute, and the UCSC Institute for Social Transformation. In addition, research interns in northern Santa Barbara County have created educational materials and reports from survey findings and presented them at a preliminary research findings conference in Lompoc on June 27.

Student presents research report
Kennedy McIntyre, a third-year undergraduate student at UCLA, recently presented a report based on her experience as a California Freedom Summer intern in 2022. Building a Brighter Future: The Journey to Establishing Sacramento's Measure L is McIntyre’s account of her work at Youth Forward, a nonprofit that in the summer of 2022 was focused in part on amending Sacramento’s city charter to ensure that California’s marijuana tax revenue is invested in programs to prevent youth substance abuse. Youth Forward partnered with Sac Kids First, one of the largest grassroots coalitions in the Sacramento region, to campaign for passage of Measure L, the Children and Youth Health and Safety Act. McIntyre discusses her role in the campaign and the community organizing strategies that were integral to its success.
 

CSRC supports Afro-Latinx culture show
On June 2, UCLA Afro-Latinx Connection and the CSRC Latina Futures 2050 Lab hosted “Utopia Negra,” an annual campus event that celebrates Afro-Latinx culture and history. This year’s event also featured Afro-Latina artists. Celia Lacayo, CSRC assistant director and faculty sponsor of the UCLA Afro-Latinx Connection, welcomed the audience of students, family, and community members, stating, “What an honor to see the beautiful efforts of the students who center Blackness and celebrate the diverse Afro-Latinx cultures to gain visibility. The students leading this effort reflect some of the best of UCLA, fighting for racial equality and celebrating the contributions from the Afro-Latinx community.”
 

CSRC student worker Isaiah Clark, who graduated this spring with bachelor’s degree in sociology, was a featured speaker. In his speech, he explained the importance of this event.  

         Erasure and genocide are an ever-present part of Afro-Latinx history and the UCLA Afro-Latinx       Connection is a club that stands on cross-cultural solidarity and visibility.

         As many of you know, the number of folks in the US who identify as Afro-Latinx is growing, and here in California and at UCLA our organization has increased visibility and highlighted the contributions of the Afro-Latinx community to this country. Many of us come from households with a parent from Latin America and another who is African American. Some use terms like “Blaxican” or “Afrodescendientes” to honor and center Blackness. This is at the core of our mission statement: “Bridging the gap between the Afrikan Diaspora and Latin communities, as well as educating those on our existence.”

         We are grateful for the opportunity to hold this kind of [event] during times such as these, and we thank you all for being here. And we would like to remind you all that being able to find joy in the face of adversity is in itself an act of resistance. In fact, many of the dances showcased tonight were born out of oppressed peoples finding pleasure in the midst of immense suffering. From those that had the audacity to dance in their chains and make music out of dishes in kitchens they were relegated to. From those that were able to free themselves from their oppressors and find safety in macambos and quilombos, Maroon communities often tucked away in forests or jungles. And did so not to act like injustice did not exist, but to live in spite of it. And that is what our show is an ode to.

Isaiah also acknowledged the wars in Palestine, Congo, Sudan, and Tigray and encouraged the audience to educate themselves on the conflicts that are leading to a tremendous loss of life.

Right: Isaiah Clark speaking at “Utopia Negra,” the second annual UCLA Afro-Latinx Culture Show.

Graduating student researcher shares parting words
Aaliyah Farias, CSRC undergraduate student researcher and student worker in the CSRC Library, graduated this summer with a major in sociology and Chicana/o and Central American studies and a specialization in computer programming. Farias joined the CSRC in 2022. She shared a few parting words:
 

              Working at the CSRC has been a fulfilling experience. I initially joined the CSRC as a South Los    Angeles student representative for the California Freedom Summer (CFS) project in 2022. Through CFS, I connected with a diverse group of youth organizers who shared a mission of educating our community on topics such as affordable housing and voting access. Through CFS I was inspired to take my youth organizing skills to become a K-12 educator. Sharing these aspirations, Veronica Terriquez, CSRC director, assigned me to assist in the development of an Asian American and Pacific Islander ethnic studies curriculum for high school students. This experience allowed me to apply a holistic student perspective on learning to the curriculum design while gaining professional development on creating inclusive and accessible lesson plans. Merging my organizing skills with my passion for education has led me to pursue a career that centers students and their communities. In addition to my responsibilities as a student researcher, I undertook the role of student archivist assistant to the CSRC librarian, Xaviera Flores. Working at the library, I was able to learn about the diverse history and rich culture of Chicano/a and Latinx communities through archival documents and special collection items housed at the CSRC and through relationships with leaders of the Chicano movement. Working at the library was a rich experience thanks to Xaviera’s extensive experience and her care for her staff’s well-being. As I continue on to graduate school at the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies through the Teacher Education Program, I look forward to applying the skills I gained at the CSRC. I’m grateful to have grown alongside the CSRC, and I recommend any student seeking community to connect with the CSRC!

Aaliyah Farias after the commencement event hosted by the Academic Advancement Program (AAP) in June.

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The UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center acknowledges the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar (the Los Angeles basin and So. Channel Islands). As a land grant institution, we pay our respects to the Honuukvetam (Ancestors), ‘Ahiihirom (Elders) and ‘Eyoohiinkem (our relatives/relations) past, present and emerging.