ies and the problem has intensified as programs for graduate degrees are being developed.

Under a program entitled "Chicano Studies Institutes" (CSI), the Montal System Inc., sponsored by the National Foundation on the Humanities, a Federal agency, has directed its efforts toward alleviating this confused situation. The Foundation, in conjunction with the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Arizona at Tempe, and California State College at Long Beach, contracted with the Chicano consultant firm to coordinate and develop their respective Chicano studies.

The CSI program is designed to develop standards for curriculums that will lead to undergraduate and graduate degrees in Mexican American studies.

There are some basic similarities between what the existing Mexican American or Chicano studies are trying to attain in their programs and departments. They include:

(1) The study of contributions of the Mexican American to American culture and society;

(2) The promotion of better understanding among all Americans in enriching their range of experience through exposure to the cultural, political, historical, and economic contributions of the Mexican to the

United States;

(3) The dissemination of information to persons in the professions of law enforcement, social work, education, advertising, civil service, and others whose encounters with the Mexican American have been aggravated into alienation;

(4) The promotion of higher education for Chicanos both in creating a greater pride in their heritage and by acquainting them with the culture that helped form their community in the Southwest.

The CSI program has several objectives in providing a guiding uniformity for existing and future Chicano studies. These are:

(a) To develop a range of courses encompassing both undergraduate and graduate levels including doctoral degrees.

(b) To coordinate standards in the transfer of course credits between colleges and universities beginning at the junior college level.

(c) To clearly define curriculum toward a degree in Mexican American studies from programs in sociology, anthropology, and history, with components.

(d) To establish criteria in the employment of faculty for Mexican American studies. Previous procedures in the recruiting of faculty rested on academic

ican Americans is found. The survey was made to give

performance not necessarily associated with Mexican American studies.

(e) To identify prime areas in need of research and scholastic study.

(f) To identify existing materials for use in Mexican American studies programs and to disseminate the information. The absence of substantial compilations on Chicano textbooks and printed materials has delayed curriculum development.

(g) To provide a periodic and continuous review of Chicano studies programs in colleges and universities and to offer timely revisions as necessary as these programs develop in institutions of higher learning.

With these objectives in mind, in May 1970 a questionnaire was sent to 244 college and university presidents and administrators throughout the five southwestern States where the highest concentration of Mex

formation in their establishment or development of Chicano studies departments and programs. It further aimed at identifying the trends in various educational systems which are accepting Chicano studies as a valid need. In addition, it was hoped the polling would act as a census in pinpointing which colleges and universities offered these courses.

With a 50 percent return from college and university administrators in the Southwest, the survey revealed that many institutions of higher learning were lacking in Mexican American studies programs.

For example, in New Mexico where Chicanos compose 38 percent of the school enrollment and in Arizona where they compose 19 percent, the survey found that approximately 75 percent of the administrators felt there was no need for Chicano studies programs in their universities and colleges. The majority commented that there was a "lack of interest" or "no demand" for such programs.

Of the Southwest colleges responding, 13 percent had established Chicano studies departments, while 4 percent stated they had comparable programs and college courses but did not have structured departments nor degree plans leading to a major in Mexican American studies.

In Texas where Mexican Americans compose 20 percent of the ethnic minority in school enrollment, the survey noted that Chicanos compose 6 percent of the faculty in those colleges and universities with Chicano studies; the remainder of those faculties is Anglo.

It was also found that a majority of the Chicano departments or comparable institutes concentrate their efforts on the social sciences.

During the CSI program's first three conferences in the Summer of 1970, it provided to college and university participants 12 position papers together with a listing of resource materials in the form of a bibliography of compiled data on the Mexican American and the survey's findings.

The position papers were written by students, instructors, private citizens, and administrators specializing in Chicano matters. They were designed to give the participants in the summer conferences a background of information in the specified area to enable further discussion on Mexican American studies. The titles of the position papers were as follows:

The Establishment of A Chicano Studies Program and its Relation to the Total Curriculum of a College or University-Richard H. Wilde.

The Role of The Chicano Student In The Chicano Studies Program-Manuel I. Lopez.

The Role of The Chicano Student In The Chicano Studies Program—MECHA.

What Are the Objectives of Chicano Studies?Manuel H. Guerra.

La Raza Community and Chicano Studies-Lionel Sanchez.

Chicanismo-Tomas M. Martinez.

Research and Scholarly Activity-Ernesto Galarza and Julian Samora (See page 40 for an excerpt.). Objectives of Chicano Studies-Reynaldo Macias, Juan Gomez-Quinones, and Raymond Castro.

Critical Areas of Need for Research and Scholastic Study-Sergio D. Elizondo.

Criteria for Employment of Chicano Studies StaffRene Nunez.

Guidelines for Employment in Chicano Studies— Marcela L. Trujillo.

The Establishment and Administration of A Master's Program In Chicano Studies at the University of Colorado Salvador Ramirez.

Chicano Resource Materials-Montal Systems, Inc.

In October 1970, the Chicano Studies Institutes Advisory Board met in Washington, D.C. to review the three CSI conferences which were held in Arizona, Colorado, and California during the preceding summer. In evaluating the conferences Luis Torres, director of the CSI conference at the University of Colorado at Boulder, reported that approximately 100 persons from Colorado and Utah participated in the activities. He stated that the majority felt there was a definite lack of and great need for Chicano studies in the colleges and universities.

Echoing that was Frank Sandoval, director of the California conference, who noted California had already gained experience in recruiting faculty, organizing Chicano studies programs and departments, and setting up guidelines for these programs. Mr. Sandoval explained that the Chicano community in California has strong student, faculty, and community organizations. He noted that 170 participants who registered on the first day of the conference increased to 260 on the second. The California conference presented conclusions and recommendations based on all the conferences held. The advisory board felt the following conclusions and recommendations should be supported and that a National Concilio for Chicano Studies be organized to see that the conclusions and recommendations made by the group were coordinated and devel

oped throughout the United States. The conclusions and recommendations endorsed were that:

1) There is definite need for more research in Chicano Studies.

2) A National Cultural Center for the Arts and Humanities be developed with a National Archives containing material related exclusively to Chicanos. 3) A Chicano publishing house be funded to prepare and support Chicano writers and publications. 4) Teacher training programs for bilingual/bicultural instruction be initiated in higher education. 5) The coordination of graduate and undergraduate college/university programs in Chicano studies be further developed to include the elementary and secondary education levels.

6) Support services including tutoring, counseling, and financial assistance be further increased to meet the crucial needs of the students.

7) More college extension programs be developed to meet the needs of the Chicano community especially in the area of adult education.

8) Faculty development programs for higher education be initiated.

"How will [these] ethnic studies change our present educational system?", Dr. Guerra writes. "Perhaps there are several changes that ethnic studies will bring about. First, new philosophies, concepts, methods, and a bilingual, bicultural value system. It will create a new climate and a new awareness of both problems and capabilities. It will bring prestige and status where there has been ignorance and condescension.

"One of the most important contributions which ethnic studies may provide is the inclusion of millions of Americans in the mainstream of the national conscience. These [Mexican] Americans have been ignored in our textbooks just as much as they have been ignored in our society. Ethnic studies will put in perspective the sins of omission of our history textbooks and the misinterpretation of bilingual talents viewed as language handicaps. In general, ethnic studies will challenge the philosophies and the substance of ideas of many other disciplines which in the past have been predicated on false concepts and misleading suppositions".

CORINNE J. SÁNCHEZ

Miss Sanchez is a research assistant with Montal Systems, Inc. A graduate of California State College at Long Beach, where she was also a student assistant in the training of Mexican Americans in higher education, Miss Sánchez was formerly a research assistant with the Mexican American Studies Division of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Chicano studies: Research and scholarly activity

The academic establishment, like every other institution in American society which is being affected by the dramatic trends of ethnic relations, is being forced to clarify and define its role toward the Mexican American community. An undertow of longpent frustration among Mexican Americans has reached the universities and colleges. In the wake of protests and confrontations new and urgent issues have been raised on the campus relating to cultural survival, academic opportunity, information resources, intellectual skills and training, and placement of personnel.

As of this date the institutions of higher learning stand in danger of being overwhelmed both by the qualitative change in their role with respect to the Mexican American community and by the quantitative burden of literally thousands of new students at all levels, who are seeking and demanding answers to these issues. An avalanche has descended on academia from this quarter of American society, and the academicians are hardly aware of it as yet. What is presently a crisis may turn into a disaster if the inadequacies of the establishment are not grasped.

Briefly described the situation is about like this:

The ethnic insurgence has created a militant student sector in the Mexican American community. On many campuses they number in the hundreds, kept in motion by aggressive cadres. Their appearance has been sudden: their affect shocking. Administrators have given ground more out of panic and consternation than out of depth of understanding of what is going on in ethnic universes they have so long ignored and neglected. The students are on

campus making new demands that may seem strident and impulsive to some but that have a core of profound significance for the future of the ethnic groups and for American society as a whole.

Administrators have improvised responses to student pressure, some with the aim of gaining time to take a more significant reading of the future, in order that its demands on the present may be better understood.

From a practical point of view these demands may be viewed in eight categories: (1) The expansion of training programs for graduate students that can offer academic courses and field work leading to advanced degrees; (2) the planning of research by Master's and Ph.D. candidates; (3) the compilation of a much greater variety of readings for undergraduates in ethnic studies courses; (4) the adaption of some of these readings to the academic need of the EOP (Equal Opportunity Program) type of student; (5) the facilitation of inservice assistance to the numerous personnel that have been hastily recruited to teach such courses and to administer ethnic studies departments; (6) the encouragement and support of advanced research and writing by Mexican Americans, or others, which will support and stimulate the whole of the intellectual effort of the Mexican American community; (7) the preparation of teachers and counselors for the elementary and secondary levels who will prepare students for these programs; and (8) identify. ing research topics and scholarly activity relevant to curriculum development and teaching.

Some additional comments may be made on each of these categories:

CIVIL RIGHTS DIGEST

Graduate training. Amid the clamor for ethnic studies centering on the Mexican American little emphasis has been placed on the role of the scholar. Any campus that pretends to have an on-going ethnic studies program without one or more scholars on campus to shape and guide it cannot be said to be doing its job very seriously in this area. There are few universities that can meet this requirement today. The reason is that the Mexican American scholars now doing creative research in this field are few, the small number itself being a symptom of neglect over the past 50 years.

The situation is improving but not rapidly enough. This handful of scholars should be regarded as a training cadre of a new generation of social scientists able to multiply itself at a rate fast enough to give the whole of the

Mexican American community in the United States adequate intellectual support.

Research planning. The choice of subjects for a thesis or dissertation must, of course, lie with the candidate himself. But candidates should be helped to choose with a lively sense of relevance to (a) current state of documentation in the area of the proposed study, (b) the availability of useful contacts in the field into which research will lead, (c) access to continuous counseling from a senior advisor, and (d) possible relevance to some fundamental area of ignorance presently blocking the progress of the Mexican American community.

These basic considerations are pointed out because in the past they have all too often been ig nored by advisors or counselors who merely launched a graduate

The word "Chicano" has yet to be solidified in definition. It currently varies in meaning by regions in the Southwest. The varying definitions reflect an identity problem facing Americans of diverse Indo-Hispanic heritage in the Southwest. A "Chicano" today may be defined as a person who adheres to a social, economic, and political "causa" [cause] or "movimiento" [movement] based on Indo-Hispanic culture for the improvement of those with an Indo-Hispanic heritage. Those individuals are generally known as Spanish American or Hispanos in parts of New Mexico and Colorado; Latino or Mexican American in Texas; Mexican American or Chicano in Arizona and California. Often, these citizens will not primarily identify with mainstream American (Anglo Saxon) society. Citizens within this diverse, Indo-Hispanic heritage may not accept the word "Chicano” in self-identification, though they may identify with and support the social, economic, and political cause in the Southwest.

The definition has changed radically from its prior meaning of several years ago. Prior to today's general interpretation, the word had no meaning for some Indo-Hispanos, while to others a strong identity meaning of ethnic group cohesiveness among people from central Mexico with pejorative overtones for others.

EDITOR

student into research without navigational equipment. In this way the campus has unloaded on others a responsibility which belongs exclusively to a mature scholar.

Readings. At the present time undergraduate courses in Mexican American studies are severely handicapped by the paucity of reading materials. There has been a spate of bibliographies, all of them relying on the same limited stock of out-of-prints, monographs, and manuals. In these bibliographies there is uniformly missing the critical annotation that could flesh out the thin body of writings in this field. As a result, very few works which commend themselves for their content and method are used in a variety of courses, doing duty many times over because there are no intermediate writings to fill the large gap between them.

While the scholarship referred to in the paragraph on graduate training above is in the making, it is possible to conceive a plan of compilations, reproductions, exchange, and distribution that would add materially, if provisionally, to the working resources of instructors and students in the Mexican American ethnic studies at the undergraduate level.

Adaptation. Even after some enrichment of the present bibliography is accomplished, there would still be the problem of adapting some of the readings to the academic skills of hundreds of EOP students now enrolled in ethnic studies. These skills are, understandably, quite limited. This, too, is a symptom and an indictment of educational starvation of the Mexican American youth in the past, of a tracking system which eventually shunts these youth to a siding