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CHICANO LATINO STUDENT SERVICES • LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY
August 14, 1993
CSULB Attempts to
Develop on Sacred Land
MARISOL BARRIOS/VIDA TODAY
Nick Tapia and Mike Mesa, students from LMU, helped serve the fry bread stand during the Fourth Annual
Kateri Powwow held at Sunken Gardens.
Students
Recognized
and Given
Awards
By Marisol Barrios
For their leadership, dedi¬
cation and inspiration to the
Latino and LMU community,
Nick Tapia, William Marmolejo,
Tamara Oyola, and Leticia Rhi
received the Chicano/a-Latino/a
of the Year Award named after
four inspirational leaders.
Tapia received the
Cantiflas award for his contribu¬
tions to the community by at¬
tending excursions to political
rallies. He was Grupo Folklorico
Student Director and involved
with MEChA.
As APP counselor and Resi -
dent Advisor in Hannon Apart¬
ments, Marmolejo’s Award was
named after Fr. Luis Olivares,
who helped documented work¬
ers and Salvadorean refugees.
Fr. Olivares also made his church
the first sanctuary according to
Leticia Vidal, Director of
Chicano/ Latino Student Ser¬
vices. Marmolejo was a
disc jockey for Alma del Barrio,
APP counselor and was Presi¬
dent of his fraternity, Delta
Sigma Phi.
The Chicana/Latina of the
Year awards went to Oyola and
Rhi. Both have been inspira¬
tional to the community in many
ways. First, Oyola’s award was
named after Rigoberta Menchu
for her active participation with
children of war. She has been
APP Coordinator, MEChA Presi¬
dent, and a recipient of the Fr.
Kilp Award.
Rhi received the award
named after Cesar Chavez. As
Latina Welcome Coordinator,
Delta Zeta member, and Vice
President of Student Services,
Rhi has influenced many of her
peers and has inspired many in
the community.
Rhi has been a Resident
Advisor at Loyola Apartments,
Resident Director of Hannon
Apartments, MESA Directi va, an
APP Coordinator and recipient
of the Sr. Raymunde McKay
Award. .
By Nick Tapia . •-
/ Ш
&***& Indian nations par-
The 4th annual City of dancing and intertribal
the Angels Kateri Circle dancing. Dancers from the
Powwow was held on the Mexica Group Xipe Totec
campus of Loyola demonstrated traditional
. -dances during a break m ■■ •
duly ia and 1L The Pow~ the Powwow, On Sunday,
\ wow waa sponsored by the a 1
ofthe Archdiocese ofLos An- blessed Kateri Tekak in
geles and the American In- which the entire commu-
dian Program of LMU. nity attended mass at 10
i
ярш-
% l - Th&svsmfc was. mor¬
ally wish more people would Circle. Volunteers joined
have aware of the event be- in by assisting in the vari-
causa it was a very .worth- ousKatonCirclosponsored
ill : while event *
::;111||:;|||||||
booths, -.Members of LMU’s
• Many people attended First Nation Intertribal
the POWWOW both days tn
Соитий
Were hard at work.
.. dance or to observe the danc- at the Fry Bread booth fill-
ing and the vendors booth, mg the orders of hungry
There were people from dif- spectators.
By Nick Tapia
Puvungna, the last remain¬
ing 22 acres of a Gabrielino/
Tonga village that encompassed
much of Long Beach, has been
targeted for development by the
Cal State University Long
Beach’s administration. The uni¬
versity plans to convert this area
where Indian people come to pray
and which until recently was used
by organic gardeners, into a mini¬
mart.
One of the essential argu¬
ments in defense of Puvungna
has been who defines what is
sacred to Indian People, Indian
or non-Indian people. The site is
considered, by many Southern
California Indians as sacred.
In de- _
fending their
land, they
point out that
Puvungna
was placed on
the National
Register of
Historic
place in 1974
but for years
the adminis¬
tration ac-
knowledged
this site as Puvungna, it is only
recently that they wanted to de¬
velop this land.
Father Paul Ojibway, a
liason from Cardinal Mahoney
and director of Native American
Indian Ministry at LMU, said
the Indian Commission is in dia¬
logue with CSULB and the CSU
system to force them to comply
with the Heritage act. “The is¬
sue here is between the legal and
moral standing of Puvungna and
the jurisdiction of CSU Long
Beach to the land regardless of
the sacredness of the land.”
One of the people protest¬
ing the development and has been
keeping vigil on site is Lillian
Robles, a Juaneno gardener and
plans for development. Lillian
has kept watch and is purifying
the land each morning with
prayer. She was however told by
the police that she could not
pray there and moved across the
street.
At this portion of the land
there is a repatriation site where
the remains of a Tongua man
have been reburied. Until re¬
cently, Indian people thought
that CSULB had returned the
entire remains, but we now find
that only half of the ancestral
remains were returned. Since
then a chain link fence has been
placed to restrain anyone from
entering the premises as well as
preventing gardeners from wa¬
tering the land. In a statement
to the Los Angeles Times.Robles
stated, “this is the last 22 acres
left, and now they want it too?
How can they be so greedy?”
^ Mem-
bers of the
LMU com-
munity
have
joined in
support¬
ing those
who have
kept vigil
a t
Puvungna.
Others
who have
“+
l his is the last 22
acres left, and now they
want it too? How can
they be so greedy?”
Lillian Robles
MESADirectiva Takes On New Leadership
joined in support have been a
coalition of southern California
Tribes, American Indian Move¬
ment, Los Angeles. City and
County Indian Commissions,
UCLA MEChA, Indigenous
people of Hawaii, Indigenous
people of American Samoa, In¬
digenous people of Australia, and
the Nation of Aztlan. Also, the
ACLU is representing many In¬
dian people regarding first
amendment issues in this mat¬
ter.
LMU feels connected to the
struggle at CSULB since it is
losing Sungva (Leavey Cam¬
pus). Sue Diaz, a moderator to
LMU’s Native American
students (Chumash/Tohono
O’odom), feels this connection
by stating “During the Kateri
Powwow, people were saying
good-bye to Sungva.”
INSIDE VIDA TODAY
By Leticia Rhi
On Monday, April 26,
MESA Directive, the “Board
of Directors” of all the Latino
organizations at LMU, elected
Mercedes Cerros as its 1993-
94 chairwoman.
MESA Directiva is com¬
prised of representatives from
all the Latino organizations in¬
cluding those that are not recog¬
nized by the university, VIDA
Today, GANAS, and the Latino
choir.
In addition, Chicas,
ChavosandSol are other organi¬
zations that will be proposing to
become part of the unifying
group in the early part of this
academic year.
It has served the Latino
community for many years and
its purpose has been to provide
a forum for all the organiza¬
tions and their membership to
address issues that effect the
community.
MESA Directiva has also
tried to establish clear commu¬
nication lines among all facets of
Student Development Services.
MESA Directiva has un¬
dergone a year of transition and
change. During the 1992-93
school year, the constitution was
revised, there was a restructur¬
ing of the meeting format and
objectives and goals for the year
were established.
Last years' greatest accom¬
plishment, according to Araceli
Loredo, 1992-93 secretary, “was
the open discussions that al¬
lowed for a greater understand¬
ing of MESA Directiva and its
role as the unifying force within
all the Latino organizations.”
According to Cerros,
some of her goals for the
coming year are to continue
the work that this year’s board
has begun and to outreach to
other organizations on campus,
such as ASLMU.
Another primary goal
set for this year by Cerros is
to expand the role of secre¬
tary and thus offer an expan¬
sion of MESA Directiva. Cerros
hopes to include the publication
of a calendar which would be
published on a monthly basis.
Along with expanding the
role of the secretary and to
involve MESA Directiva with
other organizations, Cerros
plans to expand on the under¬
standing of professionalism and
leadership.
Cerros declares "In regard
to professionalism, students
must understand the seriousness
of leadership and the necessary
commitment involved. I hope to
expand professionalism in order
to better prepare students for
the real world'."
UCLA and LMU
understand the
relationship and
necessity of a Chicano
Studies Department.
Go to page 2
In memory of our
leaders, we pay tribute
to Cesar Chavez and
Cantinflas.
Go to page 3
Pereira is more than a
Latina in charge!
Go to page 4
