June event celebrated UO/Latino partnership

http://insideoregon.uoregon.edu/june-event-celebrated-uolatino-partnership/

June 7, 2011—(Reprinted from Inside Oregon)

The UO celebrated a momentous occasion with the state’s most influential Latino organization in early June, highlighting a deep connection between the university and the region’s fastest-growing demographic group.

The Latino farmworkers’ union PCUN — which was established in 1985 by 80 farmworkers, and has grown to a membership of more than 5,000 — donated all of its historic documents, including those that led to the group’s formation, to the UO Libraries special collections and university archives units. The library will preserve, organize and make the papers available for research projects.

PCUN – Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (in English, the Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United) – was founded by Cipriano Ferrel. He graduated from Mount Angel’s Colegio Cesar Chavez – the nation’s first accredited, independent four-year Chicano college, which closed in 1983.

President Lariviere and PCUN President Ramon Ramirez spoke at the June 6 evening event with representatives of other Latino groups and local dignitaries. The event celebrated the new resources at the UO Libraries, and also showcased student work, documentaries and the many UO connections to the Latino community.

The UO has several new Latino-oriented academic programs, community partnerships, research endeavors, enrollment assistance and student leadership opportunities, including the Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies established last year, the Rites of Passage with Lane Community College, Oportunidades programs, the multimedia Latino Roots Project about seven Latino immigrant families, the High School Equivalency Program (HEP) for children of migrant and season farm workers, and the MEChA-organized national Raza Unida Youth Conference.