Merrifield Addresses Chicano Issues
by Luis de la Torre
and Emma Carazco
...We seek Chicano students of
great potential, capable of
becoming leaders because they
are capable of becoming profes¬
sionals, strongly identified with
and devoted to the attainment of
full educational and economic
opportunity and full justice for
ail Chicanos. Those few who
forget or deny La Raza in their
eager pursuit of personal suc¬
cess need no external judge to
convict them. Their own cons¬
ciences stand in judgement.
Those other few who fail to
develop their intellectual and
personal capacities and dream of
a power based on slogans alone,
who in their frustration are
reduced to renunciations, they
too can be their own judges.
mFr. Donald P. Merrifield, S.J.
May 16, 1974
Vida
As early after the peak of the
Chicano student movement as
1974, Fr. Donald P. Merrifield,
President of Loyola Marymount
University, understood the
struggles of identification within
the Chicano community. He
knew that the struggle was a om-
nimous one, and a pervasive one
that it was up to dedicated
Chicano students to make a dif¬
ference. He was proud of
Chicano students in 1974, but
where does our President stand
on Chicano issues today?
Fr. Merrifield’s sensitivity to
the Chicano community is not
always translated into policy,
but it is obvious that his
understanding of the uniqueness
of our community is as great as it
was in 1974 (certianly it is greater
than most administrators).
However, we must continue to
challenge the University on every
issue, particularly with respect to
the recruitment of Latino
students and the hiring of Latino
faculty and staff if we are ever to
achieve institutional change.
In October 27 interview with
Vida Fr. Merrifield shared his
thoughts on some of the changes
he has seen among Chicano stu¬
dent over the last decade, what
the future of Chicano Studies
and Chicano Supportive Ser¬
vices are, how he perceives the
University’s commitment to
Chicano Studies, what the goals
uf the University’s affirmative
action oolicv are. and what his
most memorable event relating
to the progress of Chicanos at
LMU has been.
What are some of the significant
changes among Chicano
students at LMU over the last
decade?
There has been a quantitative
change, mainly increasing
numbers: from being smaller
percentage of Spanish Surnames
in gerneral and those who call
themselves Chicano. Some place
along the line we allow at
registration to call yourself
“Chicano” or “Hispanic”. I
think at one time “Chicanos”
were larger in number" 'those
who called themselves Chicano.
Now I see less separation— that’s
another big thing. One thing was
smaller in numbers, then as the
number grew, there was more of
a separation between some mili¬
tant Chicanos and some that did
not identify at all. After all there
is a great spectrum. But still
there seems to be more hostility
within the community which
does not seem to there anymore.
Also, one of the other
changes, which has been very
profitable, is that then there was
much more of a confrontational
style with [the] administration.
One result was that there was
not the closeness of the [Mex¬
ican American] Alumni. The
alumni of a generation ago were
our parents who are very conser¬
vative people, generally. Many
people came in at the time of the
revolution and are conservative.
Many others were children of
these people and were in the
War [WWII] and were strong
veteran types, very pro- America.
They could not relate to the
young Chicanos on campus who
happened to be very anti-
Vietnam along with other peo¬
ple.
Thus, the young Chicanos
were challenging to their older
generation. This generation did
not like to be called “Chicano”
at the time. So I think there is a
very creative relationship within
the Chicano community that I
have observed from the outside.
But within the campus, there is
much more closeness amongst
faculty and students. People can
be comfortable without having
to be in exactly the same political
situation. There are now close
relationships with the alumni,
shown just this year, which has
proven creative and very
valuable.
In these uncertain times, what is
the future of Chicano Studies,
Chicano Supportive Services,
and Latino Affairs in general?
First, the real basic concern is
with respect to students. The
basic uncertainty is related to the
income and the income is related
to students. Mostly seventy to
eighty percent of the school’s in¬
come comes from the students
or equally their financial aid.
Because of the changing finan¬
cial aid picture, it affects all of
our programs, all our situations.
We nave a planning group look¬
ing into all of the... strategies for
the future. Should we drop 100
students more than we thought
next fall? If you drop 100
students, that is $500,000 of in¬
come gone. If that happens, we
panic— that is what makes a
danger to Chicano Supportive
Services, at least in its full sup¬
port. There is going to be a new
thing happening in the country
called ‘budget’ cuts If we do
decrease the student body, we
will have budget cuts — and the
obvious enrollment and faculty
won’t come in.
Our hope is that it won’t hap¬
pen. It is not just a vague hope.
We hope that we find other
financial aid sources from the
government. We hope that we
continue to recruit more strong
Spanish surnamed students. We
hope also that as we get to the
middle income, people will make
greater sacrifices.
Continued on pg.7)
Tear Long Education
by Paul Villa
Recently in Sacramento, Bill
AB 129 was passed into law by
the State Assembly. This new
law states that the property of
lowly populated schools in the
San Fernando Valley will be sold
to the Los Angeles School Board
for $450 million dollars.
One problem that the school
board has dealt with in the last
decade is the increasing numbers
of children (particularily
Chicanos and Blacks) attending
schools in low income areas of
Los Angeles.
East Los Angeles is one such
area that contends with the pro¬
blem of obercrowded schools.
Presently the school board will
be going into deliberations on
the subject of appropriating
funds to build more classrooms
in East L.A. The results will
hopefully alleviate the over¬
crowded situation in that area.
The school board will review
the overcrowded reality of
schools in East L.A. Issues such
as Year-Long education and the
tracking system will be dealt with
extensively. School districts in
largely middle-class suburbs of
Los Angeles maintain a regular
September to June schedule for
their students because these
schools are not over populated.
In East L.A. however year long
education and the tracking
system have been employed in
an attempt to alleviate the pro¬
blem of overcrowding.
Over one-hundred grammar,
junior high, and high schools are
participating in year-long educa¬
tion and tracking. Use of this
type of education hinders the
potential educational growth of
President Donald P. Merrifield, S.J.
Loyola Marymount University
Church in El Salvador
young Chicanos in East L.A.. It
is at the high school level that
the Chicano/Chicana bears the
burden of tracking and year¬
long education.
To clarify the situation, an ex¬
ample is presented of a barrio
high school that utilizes the
tracking system. Belmont High
School (located onthe outskirts
of downtown L.A.) is divided
into three tracks. Track“A”
students start school in
September and continue
through December. They have
January and Febuary off and
they start again in March and
finish up in June. Tracks“B”
and “C” begin school in July
and continue through October.
They get November and
December off and they pick-up
from January until April. For
con’t p. 2
by George P. Szabo
In discussing the Latin
American situation their are few
institutions that have a greater
affect than the Roman Catholic
church. During the past 10-15
years the church in Latin
America has worked to imple¬
ment the results of
Vatican II and it was the meeting
of Latin American Bishops at
Medellin, Columbia in 1968 and
at Puebla, Mexico in 1979 that
have set the path for the Chur¬
ches activities over the past
decade.
Vatican II sought to mobilize
the Christian community to ad¬
dress what the Medellin Con¬
ference described as “internal
and external colonialism”in
Latin America. The Puebla con¬
ference recognized that what
was needed in Latin America
was a pastoral “option for the
poor.”
According to Reverend J.
Bryan Hehir, director of the of¬
fice of Foriegn Affairs; U.S.
Catholic Conference, Pope
John Paul II opposes “making
the church an organized political
force” but he supported the
view that the church should
“pursue a religous ministry
that” has “political and social
consequences when the issues at
stake” involve ‘‘promoting
human rights, alleviating pover¬
ty, or reforming unjust political
and economic structures.”
In El Salvador the church has
utilized 3 basic methods for
creating an alliance with the
poor: 1) voicing the beliefs of
the poor in the homilies 2) join¬
ing the day to day lives of the
poor 3) opening religious sanc¬
tuaries as refugee centers for the
poor. In identifying with the
poor the church has been able to
see the situation in El Salvador
in a new light and in turn has
acted as an independent channel
of information to the interna¬
tional community.
The establishment of Bishops
Conferences and the practice of
reverse mission have played a
key role in the U.S. churches
strong opposition to the U.S.
policy in El Salvador. Bishops
Conferences stress the respon¬
sibility that each local church
has in it’s own society on ques¬
tions affecting human rights and
human dignity. They also serve
to educate bishops in the U.S.
about international questions of
human rights.
The reverse mission to the
home church emphasizes the
need to address those dimen¬
sions of foreign policy and
private practice that adversely
affect those the missionaries
serve. According to Rev. Hehir,
“the missionaries become ad¬
vocates with their home church
and society, raising the human
rights and social justice issues
that they can see, first hand, are
related to U.S. policy.” U.S.
missionaries in Latin America
and more specifically El
Salvador witness the situation
first hand and share their insight
(continued on p.7)
