A closer look: the history of the future of Hispanic studies
It has been a tumultuous year for faculty, staff, students and community members with an interest in Hispanic studies programs and the recent Latin American initiative at Rice. Four current and emeritus faculty members in the Hispanic studies department have headed a movement to publicize their position, a mandate calling for a doctoral program in Hispanic studies and the direction of increased university attention and resources toward expanding that department. University administration does not support the foundation of a doctoral program in the Hispanic studies department and is undertaking an alternative project, the Latin American initiative, as a means of improving Rice’s focus on Latino culture in Texas, Mexico, South America and Spain.
PREQUEL: SPRING 2006 A new movement to improve Rice’s focus on Latin American culture goes public. Kauffmann publishes a column in the Thresher (“Rice needs Hispanic studies doctorate,” April 28, 2006). Kauffmann said this is not the fi rst such movement, and that he had previously been involved in an unsuccessful campaign to obtain a multidisciplinary Ph.D. program in the Hispanic studies and German and Slavic studies departments that began in 1998. Less than a month later, undergraduates submit a petition to President Leebron, Wihl and Dean of Undergraduates Robin Forman calling for a Latin American studies program. The petition was formed in part due to the departure of numerous professors whose research areas included a Latin American focus. About 700 students signed the petition by the end of May. (“700 sign petition in support of Latin American studies program,” May 19, 2006) The petition cites President Leebron’s Vision for the Second Century as justifi cation for a Latin American studies program, drawing on portions of the V2C that call for increased resource devotion to Asian American and Latin American scholarship.
FALL 2006 Wihl calls a meeting of department chairs Nov. 1 to announce his plan to combine four of Rice’s foreign language departments, including Hispanic studies. (“Humanities considers department merger,” Nov. 10) Wihl’s implementation of this plan was underway before the meeting began, and some faculty become upset that Wihl was acting before consulting them. Van Delden speaks with the Thresher in November and expresses concerns that Wihl’s plan would limit the scope of Hispanic studies and impede the department’s campaign to obtain a doctoral program. In December, Wihl announces that no merger would occur before the school of humanities underwent an external review. A working group of faculty and staff from the schools of humanities and social sciences, as well as the Humanities Research Center and Baker Institute, forms to discuss how to form a research center that focuses on Latin American studies.
SPRING 2007 Student initiatives to show support for Latin American-focused scholarship and research continue, including Martel College senior Stephen Dictor’s formation of www.savericehispanicstudies.org, a Web site that hosts the 2006 petition as well as testimonials from undergraduates, graduate students and alumni. The site also hosts a letter directed to President Leebron and written March 5 by Castañeda, van Delden, Kauffmann and Gonzàlez-Stephan, which reasser ts and elaborates these faculty members’ position that Rice must have a Hispanic Studies doctoral program, and that failing to create one insults the intellectual culture of Hispanic studies. The letter addresses the call for attention to Latin American culture in the V2C, the need to eliminate historical prejudices against Spanish as a scholarly language and Rice’s unique geographical position as justifications for a doctoral program. In March, the president’s office hires Vassar, who is concurrently finishing a Ph. D. in Latin American Literature at the University of Virginia. Vassar and Quillen focus attention on building international partnerships in Latin America. President Leebron responds to the chairs’ letter April 26, confi rming that he does not plan to pursue a Hispanic studies Ph.D. program. The letter elaborates on the administration’s activity in pursuit of improved Latin American studies, including mention of Quillen and Vassar’s plans to secure working relationships with Monterrey Tec and Universidad de Monterrey. Quillen and Vassar left for Monterrey Wednesday. In the letter, President Leebron encourages an alternative to a Hispanic studies departmental Ph.D. — the pursuit of multi-departmental, graduate-level programs that focus on narrow research interests and draw on resources from around the university and the Houston and international community. There has not yet been mention of a concrete timeframe for hiring new faculty with research interests in Hispanic or Latin American studies.
Other news stories
- Business minor to be offered in fall
- Enrollment for fall '07 to increase for fifth straight year
- Evaluation responses up by over 50 percent
- Global warming chosen for common reading, discussion
- Major construction projects begin over summer
- News in Brief
- Not your usual grunt
- Parking fees up, seniors pay surcharge
- Rice student allegedly assaulted in village area