Expanding the Conversation about Ethnic Studies

Ethnic studies courses first began appearing on the campuses of state universities in the U.S. during the late 1960s, when African American and Chicano students in California began pressuring their campuses to offer such courses. As recently as last spring, the State of Arizona passed a law banning ethnic studies from the state's university system. In this episode of CL-Exchange OnAir, we'll talk to Dr. Francisco Guajardo, who has been part of a recent collective leadership effort to create a Mexican American Studies Center at the University of Texas-Pan American. He'll explain how collective leadership is helping to expand the conversation about ethnic studies and break through long-standing barriers that for years have made the prospects of a Mexican American Studies Center on that campus seem little more than a dream.