AAUP signs amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of DACA program

“Last week, the AAUP, together with forty-three educational associations, signed onto an amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, whose participants are often referred to as “Dreamers.” The brief calls the DACA program “an unmitigated good for this country, its higher education system, and the young persons whom it has benefited.”

“The brief was prepared by the American Council on Education and submitted to the high court in the consolidated DACA cases Dep’t of Homeland Sec. v. Regents of Univ. of Cal.et.al.

“The amicus brief emphasizes that “DACA has been a symbol of tolerance and openness of our university campuses” and warns that rescinding DACA would broadcast to foreign-born students and potential students from around the globe a message of exclusion that would “irreparably damage the reputation of America’s higher education system in the eyes of the world.” 

“The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral argument in this case in November and a decision is expected before June 2020. The Trump administration moved to end DACA in 2017, but federal courts blocked that attempt. At that time, the AAUP issued a strong statement in support of DACA noting that “a large number of those granted DACA status are our students.” Most recently, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld one of the district court’s orders requiring the Trump administration to keep the DACA program in place.” 

From: Risa Lieberwitz, General Counsel, AAUP
You can find a link to the full brief here.

Ernesto Martínez wins Imagen Award for short film ‘La Serenata’

Editor’s Note: Ernesto Martínez is a long-time CLLAS faculty affiliate. His creative work received the Inaugural Latinx Studies Seed Grant from CLLAS in 2018.

UO professor wins Imagen Award for short film ‘La Serenata’ / from Around the O

August 19, 2019—Ernesto Javier Martínez, an associate professor of ethnic studies at the University of Oregon, won a prestigious Imagen Award for a short film he wrote, “La Serenata.”

“La Serenata,” directed by Adelina Anthony, is based on Martínez’s children’s book called “Cuando Amamos Cantamos,” or “When We Love Someone We Sing to Them.” It’s a bilingual book about a boy who loves another boy and about the importance of the Mexican serenata tradition.

The Imagen Awards have been called the “Latino Golden Globes” and have featured well-known people in the entertainment industry such as Guillermo Del Toro, Salma Hayek and Gina Rodriguez.

“Winning the Imagen Award for best short film is an enormous honor, in large part because it brings national attention to issues facing Latino families today about how to best care for the queer children in their lives,” Martínez said. “It was also a bit of surprise because Adelina Anthony, the director of La Serenata, won last year’s Imagen Award for best short film as well. We didn’t know if we would win two years in a row.”

“La Serenata” has also won the Jury Award for best short film at the 32nd annual Connecticut LGBTQ Film Festival, the Audience Award for best short film at the San Francisco International Women of Color Film Festival, and the Silver Award for best child actor at the Independent Shorts Awards.

For more information, read this Around the O story about Martínez and his work.

2019 Faculty Promotions

Congratulations to all faculty, and especially to CLLAS affiliated faculty who received promotions, with several earning tenure. These include:

• Galen Martin, Senior Instructor II, International Studies
• Lanie Millar, Associate Professor, Romance Languages
• Jesús Sepúlveda, Senior Instructor II, Romance Languages
• Jessica Vasquez-Tokos, Professor, Sociology
• David Woken, Associate Librarian, UO Libraries
• Juan Eduardo Wolf, Associate Professor, School of Music & Dance

For full list, go to: https://provost.uoregon.edu/2019-faculty-promotions

National Park Service unit honors Stephanie Wood

April 29, 2019— Stephanie Wood, research associate in the College of Education and studio instructor for the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, received the Outstanding Partner Award from a unit of the National Park Service called the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. Wood is the University of Oregon’s principal investigator in the project Honoring Tribal Legacies, which aims to include indigenous perspectives in the classroom.

Stephanie Wood is a long-time CLLAS faculty affiliate.

Tags: National Park Service, Stephanie Wood, UO

Linguists and Native Americans Team Up on Indigenous Languages

To read the full story, go to Around the O at: https://around.uoregon.edu/oq/linguists-and-native-americans-team-up-on-indigenous-languages?utm_source=oq04-08-19

April 3, 2019—Gabriela Pérez Báez, a new assistant professor in linguistics at Oregon who specializes in the revitalization of indigenous languages, is codirector of the National Breath of Life Archival Institute for Indigenous Languages, which trains Native American community researchers to navigate massive physical and digital archival repositories such as the National Anthropological Archives. The documents and other resources held in these collections are of great value for cultural and linguistic revitalization.

Pérez Báez and Breath of Life codirector Daryl Baldwin of the Myaamia Center at Miami University recently received $311,641 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to provide training to Native researchers on the use of powerful new archival software—the Indigenous Languages Digital Archive (ILDA). Users of ILDA can instantly search tens of thousands of digital records on a query.

Winter 2019 edition of CLLAS Notes now available

The Winter 2019 CLLAS Notes our twice-yearly newsletter, is now available online and in print.

Director Gabriela Martínez fills us in on fall events as she heads out for sabbatical. Read about graduate student research in Chicago, Yucatan, and Bolivia. Learn more about the ACCESS intervention program for survivors of intimate partner violence being carried out by Professor Krista Chronister in the College of Education, and in conjunction with PhD student Yolanda Valenzuela. Find out about movie director Peter Bratt’s teach-in with students. And enjoy the warm and thoughtful greeting from CLLAS interim director Carlos Aguirre.

Winter 2019 CLLAS Notes Volume 10, Issue 1 includes:

• Director’s Letter
• Greetings from the Interim Director
• CLLAS Teach-In with Film Director Peter Bratt
• The Carnaval Shines a Spotlight on Latinx Theatre
• Indigenous Maya Labor in a Site of World Heritage
• Indigeneity and Mobilization in Lowland Bolivia
• Immigrant Latina Survivors of Partner Violence and Work
• News & Book Notes
• Upcoming events