1979_04 The Daily Collegian April 1979

              -Noticias de la Raza-
April 3, 1979
MECHA MEETINGS
Mecha continues to recruit students
to become involved with issues that
affect all Chicanos Officers have re¬
issued the invitation that students join
the group and attend Mecha meetings
The next Mecha meeting will be held
April 5 (Thursday) in the College
Union, room 309
CHICANO COMMENCEMENT
Applications will be accepted
through April 18 for the third annual
Chicano Commencement at CSUF The
event, being organized by the Chicano
Commencement Committee of the Chi-
Sunday, May 20 at the Fresno District
Applications can be picked up at
Tutorial Services, the La Raza Studies
office, and the EOP office For more in¬
formation call 487-1053
UFWPLEA
I  b>   I
I   ,,t   i
United Farm Workers in I
nations may be left at the La Raza
Studies office in San Ramon 4, room
118 For more information call
487-2848
TEATRODELESPIRITU
The Teatro del Espiritu will perform
Saturday April 21 in Visalia The troupe
will be seen from 8-10 p.m in the L J
Williams Theater, 1001 Main St.
Admission for adults is J2 in advance
or $2.50 at the door For more infor¬
mation call 625-5300 The performance
is being sponsored by RAYO, Real
Alternatives for Youth Organization
STATEWIDE CHICANO TOURNEY
A statewide Chicano basketball tour
nament, sponsored by the Chicano
Youth Center, will be held April 21 22
here in Fresno
Teams from Fresno, Hayward, Los
Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento. San
Jose, and Woodland, and others will
vie for awards in the single-elimination
"Tortilla Curtain"
President Carter has approved a
plan to replace deteriorating fences on
the US /Mexican border with a more
impregnable barrier the Washington
Post reported March 2i
An earlier White House effort to erect
Chicano groups and from the Mexican
government
The President may be holding off on
n offici
Portilli
i lead
Cesar Chavez
Chicanos honor Obledo
"Quien dice que no podemos trabaiar
luntosl* (Who says we cant work to¬
gether). With that bold declaration
members of the Association of Mexican-
American Elected Officials(AMEO)
greeted a few hundred supporters at
a testimonial dance for Mario Obledo
(Calif Sec. of Health & Welfare) Friday
night at the Rainbow Ballroom.
Members of AMEO from Fresno
County as well as United Farm Workers
president Cesar Chavez gathered to
honor Obledo, the state's highest rank¬
ing Chicano official.
The mayors of Mendota, Orange Cove
and Parlier presented Obledo with a re¬
solution commending him for his service
to the Chicano community Top local
.'nd state political leaders also spoke out
the future power of Chicanos in Cali-
ind dancing
Later, live band
took center stage.
Gov. Jerry Brown was originally
scheduled to attend the testimonial, but
cancelled at the last moment. However,
his absence was hardly felt as Obledo,
Chavez and other speakers picked up the
slack.
Obledo told the crowd that Chicanos
are on the verge of becoming the most
powerful political force in the state.
Chavez, who celebrated his birthday
Friday (53rd), praised Obledo and the
growing power of the movement. He
gained a standing ovation as he began
his lengthy speech in Spanish and drew
shouts of "Viva La Huelgal', and "Viva
La Causa I'
have been insulted when the U S
unveiled the plan last year and publically
chided Carter about American insen-
sitivity when the two met in Mexico
City in late February
The original plan called for a 10-foot
high fence in the El Paso and San Di¬
ego areas Opposition mounted when it
was learned that the new fence might
amputate fingers and toes caught in
its sharp wire mesh The fence came to
be known as the "Tortilla Curtain "
High government sources said the
plan for a new fence had never been
scrapped. The decision has always been
they said, not whether to build the
fence, but how much to construct and
how to build it.
In a related event, the Mexican Con¬
gress announced March 27 that it was
sending a special committee to the US
to investigate alleged human rights vio¬
lations against illegal Mexican aliens.
The committee will report back to a
joint congressional session in the
next few weeks, a Mexican congress
spokesman said. The committee report
will also be brought up at an April 26-
28 meeting in Mexico City of US and
Mexican representatives on the illegal
alien problem
EOP
Applications for EOP Student Advisor
positions for the 1979-80
are now available. The positions are
designed to provide employment and a
unique learning experience for individu¬
als interested in education and counsel-
Applications are available in the EOP
office, Joyal Administration Building,
room 238 The deadline to apply is
April 6, 1979.
For additional information, please
contact Wanda Fulbright, Student
Advisor Coordinator at 487-1021.
Although the methods of deporting
illegal aliens have improved, conditions
are still not humane according to the
Chicano Caucas Steering Committee of
the National Association of Social
That group recently spent
a workshop in El Paso, Texa
by the U.S.  Immigration and Naturali¬
zation Service (INS)
According to the groups' newspaper
of Feb 19, the group learned that 15,000
latinos are detained and deported each
month in Fl Paso alone
'Most are held three to four days, but
some up to six months if "'
ality   cannot   be   verified,   said   group
They are held in 'sterile barracks sur¬
rounded    by    incredibly    intimidating
barbed-wire fences At no time are those
in detention spoken to by
er," said the group
They asked INS commissioner Leonel
Castillo to 'take neccessary steps to hu- •
manize this detention/deportation pro-j
The group learned that an estimated
one million undocumented immigrants
come into the United States durrog any
12-month period
To those who urge more  personnel <
and construction of physical barriers I
'seal the Border,' the group was ttji
Dr Manuel Spector, INS special con¬
sultant to Castillo said that the concept
of sealing the border was born out of
naivete and is often advanced by "re¬
actionaries'  who may or may not be
To improve the situation, the group
learned that the INS hoped to raise U.S.
Immigration quotas and allow more to
legally come in from Mexico. Mexico's
quotia is now 20,000 a year, and would
be raised to 40-50,000.
The group also found out that in El
Paso there are no facilities for undocu¬
mented females and little is done to
apprehend them. The few that are
caught are brought to churches or social
agencies for processing
Soaring illegal immigration has been   *
caused by  rampant  unemployment  in
Mexico, spiraling inflation and 3.5 per¬
cent  population  growth   -  one of  the
highest in the world
Until these problems can be dealt with
the group said 'a humane method of
processing the hundreds of thousands of
immigrants who come to the U.S. seek
mg a better way of life must be found.'
Want "extraordinary session
Campus leaders call for quick action by Trustees
A faculty-student panel yesterday called tor the CSUC Trustees
to decide on President Baxter before their May 22 meeting.
Above, from left to right, are Phil Walker, statewide Academic
Senator, and Lester Roth, president of the Congress of Faculty
Associations, ata 10a,m. press conference.
Right, from left to right, are Walker,  Roth, Merry !
member of the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate;
Kenneth Seih, president of the United Professors of California;
and Gordon Riddle, president of the Associated Students.
Photo* By DAN FORBES
'National Association of S.W. News*
An eight-member panel, representing
both the faculty and student segments of
the CSUF campus population, yesterday
called for the CSUC Board of Trustees to
meet in "extraordinary session' to make
a decision on President Norman A
Baxter
The panel, in a 10 am press confer¬
ence, represented the Executive Com¬
mittee of the CSUF Academic Senate,
the CSUF Academic Senate, the state¬
wide Academic Senate, the Congress
of Faculty Associations, the United
Professors of California and the CSUF
Associated Students
The panel, addressed the delay of the
Trustees in making a decision on Baxter
until their May 22 meeting and said that
it would support the Board if its delay
was to read the extensive material made
available to it   But, the panel said, it
wanted to make its position clear to the
'Faculty and student organizational
leadership is no longer able to play the
passive role of peacemaker on campus,'
the panel said
'As has so often been true In the
past,' it said, "if this decision is de¬
signed to delay a statement of President
Baxter's acceptability until the end of
the semester when faculty and students
will be off campus, then this cannot
be tolerated '
Lester Roth, president of the Congress
of Faculty Associations, said he thought
the delay was a stall by the Trustees to
make a decision
*l think the decision was made a long
time ago, these are just tactics,' he said.
"I think there's overwhelming evidence
which could only lead to one decision,
that is that the president has used up his
time at Fresno State."
Baxter has applied for jobs across the
nation since his controversy began at
Fresno. He was named as one of five
finalists over the weekend for the
presidency of Western Kentucky Univer¬
sity in Bowling Green
The panel said it had heard that some
Trustees, who felt a dismissal of Baxter
would damage his professional career,
wanted to give him another chance
"Our reply is that we are concerned
about all careers,* said the panel
"We are concerned about the careers of
administrators who have been pressured
by President Baxter into resigning or
returning to teaching positions, we have
concern for department chairpersons
and deans fired by President Baxter in
haste and anger;
"Our concern is for faculty who are
strangers to an isolated president and
whose   morale   has   been   tapped   by
administrative ineffectiveness, our
concern is for the excellent faculty who
are unwilling to serve in top administra¬
tive positions under the Baxter adminis¬
tration, and our concern is for the stu¬
dents who attend a university in which
academic standards and programs must
eventually erode from this unresolved
leadership dilemma '
The panel said it did not want impres¬
sions abroad to be that because the
campus is quiet, the problems have
been resolved
'One of our main purposes for being
here,* said Phil Walker, statewide
Academic Senator, 'is to inform the
Trustees, as well as the public, that this
couldn' t be further from the truth "
Walker said the problems have
intensified and the faculty has become
more disenchanted with the present
administration.
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