Immigration issue heats up on campus, in U.S.
Rally, events planned for next week
Andrew Riggs / The Collegian
Department Chair of the Chicano and Latino Studies department addressed the crowd gathered in the Free Speech Area for the debate on immigration. |
By Rebecca Martin
The Collegian
The discussion and debate on immigration legislation will come to Fresno State Monday with an event in the Peace Garden.
The event, “A Day Without an Immigrant,” is a national event. Those participating in the event will abstain from work, school, and selling or buying any products. The events will be going on across the country.
Students and faculty will meet at noon in the Peace Garden. Those against the proposed legislation will be wearing white t-shirts, according to advertisement for the event.
Carlos Perez, department chair for Chicano and Latino studies said some of his students have come to talk to him about Monday’s events. He said his personal opinion on the events is different from the California Faculty Association. Perez is the president of the CFA.
“Personally, I think it’s a good move. It shows people are participating in the democratic process,” Perez said.
While Perez said he will not be canceling classes on Monday, he also will not penalize students who choose to not to attend.
Fresno State students wanted to organize an event on campus after they saw high school students rallying for immigration rights, Perez said.
“Nobody was really doing anything on this campus, and they wanted to change that,” Perez said.
Another event on campus involving immigrant rights will be a lecture by American Studies Association President Vicki Ruiz on Tuesday.
While her lecture will focus on rural education for Mexicans, she said her research also deals with the history of immigration.
“Immigrants are people. They should be treated with respect,” Ruiz said.
Ruiz said Mexican immigration has been an issue since the 1930s, and particularly with the Great Depression. She said during the Depression even immigrants from Mexico with citizenship were told by the U.S. government to go back to Mexico.
“While people were coming from Oklahoma, Mexicans who had been living in Fresno County were going South,” Ruiz said.
Ruiz will give her lecture, “Big Dreams, Rural Schools: Mexican Americans and Public Education 1870-1950,” will be May 2 at 6:45 p.m. in the Leon Peters Education Center inside the Rec Center.
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