JOB: LatAm/Latino Studies, UCSC: Comparative Migration & Social Inequality in the Americas

The Department of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, invites applicants for a position as (tenure-track) Assistant Professor or Associate Professor (with tenure), with strong research experience in the field of Comparative Migration and Social Inequality in the Americas. Comparative migration studies are defined broadly to include analyses of gender, labor markets, immigrant integration or adaptation, racial and/or ethnic identity, language retention or acquisition, refugees, or conditions of displacement.

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Ward Churchill fired by Colorado regents

“I want to be clear,” said Tom Mayer, a CU-Boulder sociology professor. “This is a political fight with academic camoflage.  “I believe the people who voted (to dismiss Churchill) are the same people who would have voted against Socrates, Galilleo … and anyone else wth an unpopular point of view.” Lane said the only surprise … Read more

Check the Summer institute blog!

Preliminary schedule now available, along with info about plenary speakers, convenient air-conditioned dorm rooms (still available 7/6), registration forms, local lodging & transportation info, open mic night 8/4, and much more…. go to the summer institute blog by clicking here, or click on the beautiful new Summer Institute poster in the right column

Ricardo Favela passes

From: Comunidad De Sacramento [mailto:sacracomunidad@gmail.com]

Dear friends,
I write this letter with great sadness to inform you that our beloved teacher Ricardo Favela died on Sunday, July 15, 2007 in Dinuba, California of a heart attack. Favela was a great person, a great father and a great teacher and friend. Favela was a humble man that fought for civil rights with his artwork and community activism.

Estimados amigos/as,
Escribo esta carta con una gran tristeza para informarles que nuestro querido maestro Ricardo Favela falleció el domingo, 15 de Julio del 2007 en Dinuba, California de un paro cardiaco. Favela fue una gran persona, un gran padre de familia y un gran maestro y amigo. Favela siempre fue una persona humilde que luchó por los derechos de La Raza a través de su arte y de su activismo comunitario.

See below for mass and memorial….

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Mourning the death of David Ritcheson

18-Year Old Victim Had Testified in April for Passage of Matthew Shepard Act

Take action with Equality Now to help pass the Matt Shephard Act

Austin, TX (July 2, 2007) – Equality Texas today mourns the death of David Ritcheson, the 18-year-old Spring, Texas teenager who had survived an April, 2006 brutal hate crime. On April 22, 2006, Ritcheson was beaten nearly to death by self-professed Skinheads, who cut him, burned him, poured bleach over him, sodomized him with an outdoor umbrella pole and yelled anti-Hispanic slurs.

Last November and December, Ritcheson sat in a courtroom in Harris County, Texas and faced his attackers for the first time as they went through their respective trials. Ritcheson’s attackers eventually were convicted of aggravated sexual assault; one was given a life sentence, the other 90 years.

[On Sunday, July 1, 2007, David Ritcheson apparently jumped to his death from the upper deck of a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico

Less than three months ago, on April 17, 2007, David Ritcheson went to Washington, D.C. and testified before the House Judiciary Committee urging passage of the “Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007”, also known as the Matthew Shepard Act.
Ritcheson’s testimony included:

“I appear before you as a survivor of one of the most despicable, shocking, and heinous acts of hate violence this country has seen in decades. Nearly one year ago on April 22, 2006, I was viciously attacked by two individuals because of my heritage as a Mexican-American.”

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