ROTC TARGETS LATINOS
Students and faculty at California State University, Northridge (CSUN),
are campaigning to oust the Army ROTC because they say it targets
Hispanic students and has no place on a college campus. "I don't
agree with the militarizing of campus," said Jose Moreno, a CSUN
Chicano/a studies graduate student and co-founder of The Committee on
Raza Rights 10. "Having the ROTC (here) is militarizing the
campus." Moreno is one of a number of students and faculty concerned
about the Hispanic Access Initiative (HAI), which is part of CSUN's
contract with the Army ROTC. They say the initiative allows the military
to target a group of students by ethnicity. "Only 12 percent of
Latinos in the U.S. ever qualify to attend a university," Rosa
Furumoto, assistant professor for the Chicano/a Studies Department, said
last week. "Now, we finally have a few (Latino) students on campus,
and we have the military wanting to drain off those students."
Controversy began last fall, when President Jolene Koester announced that
the Army ROTC would be on campus by January. Oriel Maria S. Bernal,
Chicano/a studies and Latin American literature double major, said the
president didn’t bother to ask Latino students what they thought about
the plan. "She didn't consult with the Latino students who would be
most affected by this," Bernal said. "It's more than obvious
that it's a very racist contract. It is targeting a specific group of
students."
According to Lt. Col. Philip Butch, recruiter-trainer for Army ROTC at
CSUN recruiters have not changed any of their strategies. "I don't
target any Hispanics," Butch said Friday. "I don't target
anyone."
However, the HAI is the result of an analysis conducted by Cadet Command
on Army ROTC. Based on the results of that analysis, a plan was developed
which the Secretary of the Army approved in 1999 to expand Army ROTC
presence to additional campuses with high Hispanic enrollment. The
Hispanic Access Initiative provides for instructor salaries,
scholarships, marketing dollars and operating expenses at each of these
schools where traditionally "underserved" populations enroll in
college. In addition, the HAI provides special access to the student
records of Latino students. The HAI is an initiative that Latino
educators have also criticized because this recruitment begins in the
high schools and continues into the university level.
An open letter to CSUN President Jolene Koester from Rosa Furumoto,
Assistant Professor, Chicana/o Studies Department, reads in part,
"…The Army's interest in CSUN's Hispanic students is part of the
military's current and historical trend towards recruiting poor and
working class youth, especially Latinos and African Americans, to serve
in our nation's military…. Historically Latinos have died serving this
nation in percentages disproportionate to Latino representation in the
total population. Twenty eight percent of the names on the Vietnam
Memorial in Washington DC are Latino (Joint Center for Political and
Economic Studies Report). Over 50% of front-line troops for Operation
Desert Storm were people of color with a large percentage of these
Latinos…. So very few Latinos and African Americans make it to college
with even fewer graduating and going on to more advanced degrees. It is
extremely painful and insulting to the Latino community to see our youth
siphoned off at such disproportionate rates for military service. This is
not the dream we have for our children or those of anyone else. We do not
want CSUN to provide the U.S Army with the resources and access to our
students to help perpetuate this injustice… Your stated principal reason
for signing the agreement with the U.S. Army is the potential loss of 8
million dollars in federal funding to CSUN… However, what is the message
we send to our students and the community when we endorse the
militarization of our campus and the military targeting of Hispanic
students in exchange for maintaining these funds? How many human lives
and/or injuries is 8 million dollars worth? What a powerful message you
could send to our government leaders, the nation, the community, and our
students if you would stand up and refuse to be a cog in the military war
machine." Sources: Ventura County Star, US Army Cadet Command News,
An Open Letter to President Koester Regarding ROTC - CSUN "HISPANIC
ACCESS INITIATIVE", Hispanic Vista
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