20-Year Anniversary of the Latino Cultural Center

Opening Remarks by Dr. Rodrigo Carramiana, Director of the Center.

Honorable Trustee Ada Lopez, Provost John Wanat, Vice-Chancellors, Faculty members, University administrators, university personnel, and above all, students and members of the community:

We have gathered here to celebrate the history of the center. And thus it is necessary to remember the origins of the center, to analyze its present situation and to restate our mission for the future.

The center was officially created in 1976. Yet, its existence was conceived long before. Perhaps, some Latinos who witnessed their homes being replaced by buildings that now constitute our fine institution dreamed of having their children come to this school and develop intellectually and ethically in an environment that was responsive to their needs.

Certainly the Latino Cultural Center did exist in the minds of the first Latino students, who forced their way into the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle campus in the early 1970s. They knew, they needed not only a cultural center that would provide an environment to develop their cultural values, but also to understand their role in a society that too often did not make them feel welcome, in a land that was their land, in a country that was their country as well. Those students, those few Latino students who came to study at UIC Circle Campus in the early 70s had a vision, they knew, they understood that the future of the Latino community in Chicago and in United States was closely linked to having the doors of higher education open to Latinos. Thus, they struggled first to obtain access to the university as regular students and then to make the university sensitive to the special needs of the Latino population. The center was a centerpiece in that struggle. But it was certainly not the only one. The Latin American Studies Program and the Latin American Recruitment and Educational and Services Program (LARES) were also resulted from the original struggle in creating space for Latino students at the university.

History tells us that the process was neither smooth nor simple. Our first Latino students had to endure hardship and opposition from many fronts. However the support of the community and key faculty members, whose names deserve recognition and respect, and above all the courage of these students succeeded so as to create this space for Latinos at UIC. The Center came into existence in 1976 as an example of Latino presence in the University. Ever since, the Center has been at the forefront of our effort to keep the doors open and open new ones. Latinos have made an effort to help the university understand that just as the future of the Chicago Latino community depends on having access to higher education for our children, our brothers and our recent immigrants, the future of UIC is strongly linked to our success as a community.

UIC is a great university, one that faces many challenges and finds itself in a critical position. History has provided UIC with an incredible challenge, as a large urban research institution in an ethnically and culturally diverse city, we as an institution can become a national leader in the next century. We, as Latinos are thrilled with the challenge. Moreover, we want the University to understand that we must join forces to get there. Latinos must not be seen as an obstacle to make the university a better one. We are and must be seen as partners. We are partners that have much to offer towards the successful future of UIC, yet we also have our needs. If UIC is to be great, those needs must be effectively addressed and met. Only then will we be able to march together, as partners, and enjoy the growth of this great institutuion.

Twenty years ago, the Latino community fought a struggle to gain access to UIC. The results have been hundreds of Latinos who are now UIC graduates contributing to improve the Latino community and the city. However, twenty years ago we were out. Today we are a part of the university. And we Latinos must understand that as such, we must help the university understand our needs, we must certainly stand up for what we believe in, but we are no longer out. We are a part of this institution. This is a fine institution, but one with problems, we still have many issues that have not been properly addressed. Employment, Faculty recruitment and retention, Latino representation at high administrative positions, pay equity, fair budget allocations, student access, student access to graduate programs and the development of the South Campus. All of those are issues that we must address and we must stand up and defend what we believe in. But we are a part of the University now, we are no longer fighting for access. Often we find ourselves defending what we gained a few years ago. In 1996, the entering Latino freshmen class was 20% lower than three year ago. Yes, we are a part of UIC, but we are also able to recognize our problems as an institution and we must do something to address them.

Twenty years ago the first Latinos who came together to formally organize the center decided to name the center after the late professor from Puerto Rico, Rafael Cintrn Ortz. Today we honor Professor Citron and all of the professors who have over the years dedicated time and energy to educate our students. We also honor those students who have gone back to the community. We honor the community. We honor the parents of our students, those who came to this country in search of better opportunities and we salute them in the person of their children, now UIC students.

We renew our commitment to them, we renew our commitment to making the center a place for Latino students to develop their culture, to prepare them to be better citizens and to raise consciousness about the ever growing needs of our community.

In twenty years we have come a long way. Today there are more Latino students at UIC than ever before, today there are more Latinos working at UIC than ever before, today the center is better funded than ever before. Yet, we also face overwhelming challenges. The anti-immigration sentiment rapidly growing in the country, the many problems of our non-US citizen Latino students go through to obtain a higher education, the growing number of deportations of undocumented workers, our need to educate our children who come out of high schools with little preparation for college, gangs, violence and public health problems, all of those are problems that we confront. We need more Latino educators , more Latinos lawyers, more Latino engineers, more Latino politicians, more Latinos in every field. We need to ensure that the doors of higher education, and particularly the doors of UIC remain open to Latinos. We need to ensure that those doors remain wide open.

That is our challenge tonight. Yes, this is a time of celebration. We have certainly come a long way. Although, this is not a time to be contempt. We have challenges ahead of us, challenges that are different in nature from those faced by our predecessors therefore our actions should lead through different paths.

We are no longer fighting to obtain access to higher education. We are now in the struggle to retain that access, to increase it, to become more sensitive to the special needs of our growing and hard working population. We are no longer out trying to get in. We are already in, our future is closely linked with that of the university. We need to understand that, we need to understand it well, because we also need to help the university understand that their complete success can not be achieved without our success.

This is a time for celebration, and it is a time to honor those who over these twenty years have helped the center be a place where the interests of the Latino community are protected. We could have spent time naming them, remembering their actions and contributions. However, I am certain that they would have much prefered that we spend the time talking about all the things that remain to be done. They would have encouraged us to recoup and gain more strength, the challenges ahead will need our firm commitment, our insigthfullness, our unity and new strategies.

Let us celebrate and let us not forget that we have harvested results from other peoples effort. Lets devise ways to face todays and tomorrow's challenges and let us reaffirm our commitment to the firm belief that the future of the Latino community in Chicago depends on our access to higher education and the future of the University of Illinois at Chicago somewhat depends in building a strong partnership with the Latino community.

Thank you for attending this event.