Recommended Citation
Jessica Solyom, Jeremiah Chin, and Kristi Ryujin, Be Careful What You Ask For: Educacion Para Todas/os, the Perils and the Power, 7 NEV. L.J. 862 (2007), https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/faculty-articles/1088
Publication Title
Nevada Law Journal
Keywords
Latino/a Critical Race Theory, LatCrit, higher education, Utah State System of Higher Education code, undocumented students
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Demonstrations supporting human and civil rights, while often romanticized as a phenomenon of the past, are becoming more pervasive today, reflecting the continued forms of discrimination and oppression undocumented workers, individuals, and families experience. In the past few years, Utah residents have been engaged in their own battle to determine the level of support the state is willing to extend students of color interested in attending institutions of higher education. On the "frontstage" many of the state's universities echo a rhetoric of support for diversity. Some even go as far as to outline their commitment to diversity as part of the institution's mission statement. Yet a closer look "backstage" provides a more accurate understanding of local political practices that makes clear that only some students of color are welcome (namely documented students who can afford the cost of tuition, resident or nonresident rates notwithstanding), while others are treated with overt hostility. The struggle for knowledge and survival is intertwined with resistive efforts within and without the academy. This Article centers on discussions between students and faculty regarding Utah House Bill 144, which exempts Utah high school graduates, including undocumented immigrants, from having to pay the nonresident portion of college tuition and Utah House Bill 7, which sought to repeal House Bill 144. This Article also examines the ways survival within the academy and in the larger community is, in and of itself, an act of resistance.
The goal of this discussion is to imbricate the major tenets of Latino/a Critical Race theory (LatCrit) with the experiences of students living in a predominantly White state and attending a predominantly White institution. Using Critical Race Theory ("CRT") themes as a foreground for LatCrit theory, this discussion, first and foremost, acknowledges that racism is endemic; that it affects structures, processes, and discourses; and that it intersects with multiple other forms of oppression such as immigration status, gender, and language. From this, LatCrit encourages scholars to acknowledge that a discourse must move beyond a strictly relational discourse of a black/white binary view of race, toward an intersectional discourse that takes into account these differing forms of oppression. This discussion honors the transdisciplinary nature of LatCrit and CRT by drawing from different academic fields and employing an interdisciplinary knowledge base that incorporates Cultural Studies, Performance Theory, and LatCrit legal and educational scholarship to understand better the experiences of students of color at the university. The authors maintain the centrality of experiential knowledge by using personal testimonials and composite stories, and above all, sustain an enduring commitment to social justice in education through the resistance to House Bill 7 described in the Article and beyond.
Included in
Education Law Commons, Immigration Law Commons, Law and Race Commons