UT-El Paso’s Chicano Studies Program Turns 40

Well this is an exciting milestone. The University of El Paso’s Chicano Studies program just turned 40 this year. What an amazing accomplishment, especially in these trying times, when places like Arizona are trying to rub out any teaching of an alternate history. One size doesn’t fit all, which is why this anniversary is so important.

UTEP, as the university is commonly called, created its multidisciplinary Chicano Studies program in 1970 but has yet to achieve departamental status. The programs’ current director, Dennis Bixler-Márquez, defined Chicano Studies as “a multidisciplinary field of study focusing on the Mexican origin population” and people come from all over the world to teach and learn at UTEP’s program.

The El Paso Times quoted him as saying:

“We still need to become an academic center or achieve departmental status. We’ve accomplished more by stealth, working with other entities in a cost-effective manner. We’re reaching a broader constituency, also serving students who are not our majors or minors but who want to be informed of their own heritage.”

Exciting stuff, especially considering that this country is set for change — of the brown kind. We’ve reported that big bucks companies like Televisa are expecting at least 50 million Latinos in the next U.S. Census, and that’s probably a conservative estimate. What is that saying, those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it? Chicano Studies programs are important because as this nation changes, we need to understand who we were in order to better know who we want to become.