April 10, 2006 :: No. 204a

Cal State Fullerton's Chicana and Chicano Studies Department, its student association, M.E.Ch.A de CSUF, and the Chicana and Chicano Resource Center are hosting a forum Wednesday, April 12, for the students who participated in the recent high school walkouts.

The event will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Titan Student Union's Titan Theatre.

The purpose of the forum is to give the students, who are being encouraged to attend with their parents, an opportunity to express their concerns and to discuss the reasons for the walkouts, explained Alexandro Gradilla, assistant professor of Chicana and Chicano studies.

"Since 1968, Mexican immigrant and Mexican American students have struggled to protect and expand their civil rights, especially within the schools," said Gradilla. "They have challenged the 'low expectations' placed upon them by many in the schools. After the recent student walkout, in particular here in Orange County, the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department at Cal State Fullerton realized that we could not let the efforts of the students be misrepresented by anti-immigrant groups.

"As we support these endeavors by the students, we recognize that they must be encouraged to continue this great experience in leadership at various institutions of higher education across the country," Gradilla added.

Last month, thousands of high school students throughout Southern California staged walkouts to protest proposed legislation — now stalled in Congress — that calls for building a 700-mile-long wall along the Mexican border and making felons of illegal immigrants.

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