The fourth California-Mexico Policy Issues Seminar was held in an effort to persuade Cal State Long Beach students and staff to take part in the California-Mexico Project, an exchange program with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) on Wednesday.
Put together by the College of Liberal Arts, the Chicano/Latino studies department, the California-Mexico Project and UNAM, the seminar also included information on the need from both countries to accept their wrongdoings throughout the past years.
“The focus of the seminar is to create a long-term relationship with UNAM so we can establish an exchange of faculty and students,” said Chicano/Latino studies professor Armando Vazquez-Ramos. “There are also the joint research ventures and the development of degree programs that can be accredited.”
Through this program, CSULB students in any educational level will have a chance to experience Mexico by taking classes at UNAM, which last year was among the top 200 best universities in the world, according to the Times Higher Education website, TimesHigherEducation.co.uk.
The program is still in the drawing board stage, but Vazquez-Ramos is trying to get more faculty and students involved.
In his presentation, “The California-Mexico Relationship: Challenges and Opportunities,” Cal State Bakersfield sociology professor Gonzalo Santos gave a brief history of both Mexico and the United States and what factors have led to current issues affecting both countries.
“We live in an era of great turbulence and great social change,” Santos said. “I would like to characterize the relationship between Mexico and the United States like a very dysfunctional family.”
According to Santos, the Vicente Fox administration that ruled for the past six years in Mexico left the same problems that it promised to get rid of.
Trying to reassure students and faculty that taking part of the program was still a good idea even after listening to the presentation, Vazquez-Ramos told the audience of the importance of taking part in the California-Mexico Project.
“We hope to engage a broad base of faculty and students of all departments,” Vazquez-Ramos said. “There are 15 to 20 professors who have already shown some interest in working with the program.”
As of now, there is no student exchange program with Mexico at CSULB.
Norma Chinchilla, Dennis Kortheur, Juan Benitez and Marisol Moreno are some of the faculty members who have agreed to work in the program.
College of Liberal Arts Dean Gerry Riposa has also recently agreed to work on the program.
“We need to spend special attention in nourishing our relationship with Mexico,” Riposa said. “It will be a shame if we missed on the opportunity.”
Riposa took part on a panel that included CSULB Center for Community Engagement Director Juan M. Benitez, California State Senate Majority Caucus Legislative Consultant Robert Perez, Vazquez-Ramos and Santos.
“There’s a deficit on Latino leaders to do Latino research,” Perez said. “Armando Vazquez-Ramos is trying to create a program that will foster new leaders that can deal with all these issues.”
Concerning the cost of the program, Riposa said that it’s too early to determine. Because the UNAM representative was not able to attend the seminar, Riposa didn’t have a chance to discuss the project with him.
During spring break, Vazquez-Ramos will be taking about 15 students to Mexico, as he’s been doing for the past few years.
“This program can educate so many people,” said Alma Gallardo, a liberal studies and Chicano/Latino studies major. “You learn about other people’s culture and you grow as a person.”
