Thread: University border consortium formed

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/155830.php

University border consortium formed
Eric Swedlund
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.13.2006
The formation of a nine-university border consortium, creating new links between experts in myriad areas to examine and resolve challenges in border security, immigration and trade was announced Monday by the University of Arizona.
The consortium was announced at ComDef 2006, a conference on technologies for border security, defense and commerce in Tucson.
"The consortium is a response to the issues that face us as a nation and challenges on our border," said Bruce Wright, the UA's associate vice president for economic development. "We believe this is a very powerful group of universities applying their expertise and technologies to issues of the border."
Joining the UA in the Southwest Border Security Consortium are Arizona State University, San Diego State University, the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, New Mexico State University, the University of New Mexico, Texas A & M Engineering, the University of Texas at El Paso and the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Combined, the universities have experts who cover essentially every subject related to the border. Neutral politically, Wright said the universities are in a unique position to work on solutions, a point on which his colleagues agree.
"We don't have dog in the fight," said Bob Welty, director of homeland security projects at San Diego State. "We're trying to solve problems in a way that can be a benefit to everybody."

One comment left:
I can hardly wait for tomorrow. I got a feeling I know where this is going.

http://www.10news.com/news/10311045/detail.html

SDSU, Eight Other Schools Form Border Issues Consortium

POSTED: 3:04 pm PST November 13, 2006
UPDATED: 4:35 pm PST November 13, 2006

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego State University and eight other American universities have formed a consortium to tackle border issues, it was announced Monday.

The Southwest Border Security Consortium will develop and promote scientific and policy solutions to issues facing the U.S.-Mexico border region, according to SDSU.

"The expertise of these nine research universities will be focused on providing quick-response analysis and solutions to technical and policy challenges," said Bob Welty, director of homeland security projects for the SDSU Research Foundation.

The other SBSC members include Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, New Mexico State University, New Mexico Tech, the University of New Mexico, Texas A&M, the University of Texas at El Paso and the University of Texas at San Antonio.

The consortium hopes to develop education and training programs, as well as provide students at SBSC universities the opportunity to conduct research that will result in new ways to protect the border, according to SDSU.

The SBSC will also serve as a national clearinghouse for information on border security issues and conduct seminars, workshops and conferences.

The announcement was made today in Arizona at "ComDef Tucson 2006," an international conference on technologies for border security, defense and commerce.

Something SMELLS here bigtime!!

The other SBSC members include Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, New Mexico State University, New Mexico Tech, the University of New Mexico, Texas A&M, the University of Texas at El Paso and the University of Texas at San Antonio.

This is JAMES BAKER & new SecDef GATES as well as MCCAIN & what's his name-Gov of New Mex- territory.

I smell a huge rat Something's afoot.

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I agree 2nd ... Universities have been their tools in the past. No reason to change something that has worked before.

Code:

Neutral politically, Wright said the universities are in a unique position to work on solutions, a point on which his colleagues agree.

Damn straight this smells.

W

Some interesting information about the culture at UNM.

New Mexico Viewpoint
Views Reviews Interviews
http://nmviewpoint.typepad.com/new_mexi ... migra.html

This is an excerpt, click on the link for the complete article.

1968 Student Blowouts in East L.A.
Other Chicano communities throughout the Southwest took up the torch. In 1968 students at the University of New Mexico organized the United Mexican American Students (UMAS) to press for recruitment and retention of Chicano and other minority students. Moctesuma Esparza was one of the founders of UMAS at UCLA. That year I myself got funding from the federal government to start the College Enrichment Program, a summer program for low-income students to prepare them for entrance into UNM. Of the 45 students that first summer the majority were Chicano students, but there were also American Indians (nine), African American (five) and Anglo (five). My analysis of educational problemss has always been based more on socioeconomic class, rather than race or ethnicity. I hired UMAS students to serve as teachers and mentors for the program. The CEP continues to this day, now funded by the State. This core of students went on to form the Chicano Studies Progam, of which I became the first full-time director. They were students like Jenny Chavez, Arturo Sandoval, Antonio Gomez, Sylvia Gonzales, Juan Abeyta, Margo Reno, Ricardo Barros, Phillip Gonzales, Beverly Sanchez, Ezequiel Lopez and the Juarez boys (Jesus, Santiago and Roberto). They all were inspired with what had happened in the East Los Angeles blowouts and it was an exciting time of political/social transformation and personal growth for these young people. I believe the students who associated themselves with the Chicano Movement were the best of our lot. They did all sorts of things at UNM. Aside from organizing Chicano Studies, they supported the establishment of Black Studies and Native American Studies. The UNM administration had wanted to have only one ethnic studies program – with a Chicano focus – but the Chicano students insisted that the other groups needed their own programs, and that is what happened.

The students even “Mexicanized” the UNM Fiesta, which up to that time had been a cowboy celebration. When I was an undergraduate at UNM (1957–61) Chicano students would often get in fights (mainly with jocks and frat boys) because the tradition during Fiesta Week was to wear cowboy clothing and if you did not, you were tried by a “kangaroo court” and put in “jail” for a while.

http://www.jackdavis.org/new/immigration/professor.asp

Professor Predicts 'Hispanic Homeland'
By The Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A University of New Mexico Chicano Studies professor predicts a new, sovereign Hispanic nation within the century, taking in the Southwest and several northern states of Mexico.


Charles Truxillo suggests the "Republica del Norte," the Republic of the North, is "an inevitability."

He envisions it encompassing all of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and southern Colorado, plus the northern tier of Mexican states: Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.

Along both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border "there is a growing fusion, a reviving of connections," Truxillo said. "Southwest Chicanos and Norteño Mexicanos are becoming one people again."

Truxillo, 47, has said the new country should be brought into being "by any means necessary," but recently said it was unlikely to be formed by civil war. Instead, its creation will be accomplished by the electoral pressure of the future majority Hispanic population in the region, he said.

Other UNM professors were skeptical

Felipe Gonzáles, director of UNM's Southwest Hispanic Research Institute, said there's a "certain homeland undercurrent" among New Mexico Hispanics who believe land was stolen and promises broken. But, he said, a new nation would need much more widespread support.

"Educated elites are going to have to pick up on this idea and run with it and use it as a point of confrontation if it is to succeed," Gonzáles said.

Truxillo contends states have the right to secede under the Articles of Confederation of 1777, in which states retained "sovereignty, freedom and independence." He contends the Articles were not superseded in that regard by the U.S. Constitution and that although the Civil War settled the question militarily, it was never resolved by courts.

History Professor Daniel Feller disagreed

"The Constitution does supersede the Articles of Confederation," Feller said. "It takes no notice of the articles and is not presented as bearing any relation to them. The Constitution does not declare, recognize or in any way acknowledge the right to secede."

And, he noted, the full title was "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union."

The U.S. Supreme Court said in 1869 the union was indestructible, political science Professor Joseph Stewart said.

He also said he was "somewhat skeptical in the sense of minority politics" about a possible Republic of the North. He said Americans of Mexican descent have moved all over the United States and that "I don't see that Hispanic population becoming more distinct but in fact becoming less distinct."

Juan José Peña, Hispanic activist and vice chairman of the Hispanic Roundtable, said there's not enough political consciousness among Mexican Americans to form a separate nation.

"Right now, there's no movement capable of undertaking it," he said.

Truxillo, who teaches at UNM's Chicano Studies Program on a yearly contract, believes it's his job to help develop a "cadre of intellectuals" to think about how it can become a reality.

Native-born American Hispanics feel like strangers in their own land, he said

"We remain subordinated," he said. "We have a negative image of our own culture, created by the media. Self-loathing is a terrible form of oppression. The long history of oppression and subordination has to end."

Truxillo said Hispanics who have achieved positions of power or otherwise are "enjoying the benefits of assimilation" are most likely to oppose a new nation.

"There will be the negative reaction, the tortured response of someone who thinks, 'Give me a break. I just want to go to Wal-Mart.' But the idea will seep into their consciousness, and cause an internal crisis, a pain of conscience, an internal dialogue as they ask themselves: 'Who am I in this system?"'

© 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.



Dr. Charles Truxillo is a native of New Mexico. He attended public schools in Albuquerque and Belen. Dr. Truxillo received his graduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of New Mexico, majoring in Latin American, Borderlands, and Asian History. Dr. Truxillo also attended St. Michael's Catholic seminary in California. Later, he worked as an instructor in the University College of UNM, serving as director of the University College's Social Science program from 1988 to 1990. Throughout this period Dr. Truxillo traveled extensively in Mexico, Central America, Spain, and Western Europe. Between 1992 and 1997, he was an Assistant Professor of History at New Mexico Highlands University. While at NMHI, he annually organized student tours to Mexico and sponsored student and faculty forums and symposiums.

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I'm with you guys. This stinks!

"We're trying to solve problems in a way that can be a benefit to everybody."

Everybody? Define everybody.

Dr. Truxillo also attended St. Michael's Catholic seminary in California.