Rice relies on Hispanic Studies falsehoods

As a graduating senior, I am overwhelmed when I stop to think of all the life lessons I have learned during the past four years. Sometimes the lessons are as true and important as they are difficult to accept. For instance, sometimes people do not care about, value, respect or want to hear your opinion. And, sometimes, the ones who do not care are exactly the ones who you thought would be most concerned.

Case in point: About one fourth of the undergraduate student body at Rice signed a petition last Spring underscoring our concern about Hispanic Studies at Rice and asking the administration to form a commission that would help fulfill the Vision for the Second Century’s promise to foster “a more significant orientation” toward Latin America. Despite assurances from the administration that it shares our concern, rather than seeing improvement since students’ initial alarm, I feel like the university has regressed even further.

Since last year, we have seen a proposal to merge Hispanic Studies with three other departments, the continued refusal of a doctoral program, the persistence of two vacancies and the departure of numerous professors who specialize in Latin America.

Students have spoken up. Faculty have spoken up. Alumni have spoken up. And, as always, interest in Hispanic culture is high: HACER, the Hispanic student organization, is one of the largest student groups at Rice. Spanish language classes fill up to the brim. And Alternative Spring Break, Engineers Without Borders and Humanitarian Medical Outreach service trips to Mexico and Central America have become an institution.

I can only think of one plausible reason that Rice would clip the wings of Hispanic Studies: People assume that there is a good program in place anyway, because Rice is “Rice.” As of today, Hispanic Online puts Rice as the number 12 college for Hispanics to attend, and Hispanic Magazine places it as number 11, noting the 11 percent Hispanic student body. U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” incorrectly lists Rice as having a Latin American Studies program — Rice has no such program.

I myself thought that Rice had an interdisciplinary Latin American Studies program before I came here, and I assumed that there was a doctoral program in Hispanic Studies. Oops. I know other students who came with similar expectations, as well.

The misconception reaches beyond the hedges. When I was interviewing for jobs, one Boston-headquartered company told me that, since it was having trouble finding high-caliber candidates to work in Latin America, they were going to consider recruiting at Rice due to its academic reputation and assumed strong connection to the region. Oops again. However much Rice does not want to be a regional university, there is something significant and potentially advantageous about our pivotal location in an increasingly globalized world. This is an opportunity to be unique and to stand out among other great schools, rather than shun the very resources that surround us.

None of this is new. Faculty and alumni have been riding the administration for years. Many students wrote to the Thresher last semester, and many more are currently writing letters to express their outrage at what we see as a complete lack of commitment in this area.

I am insulted that Rice is not even trying to stay competitive with regional schools that have strong Hispanic Studies programs. I am insulted that Rice does not want to commit to helping me learn about the culture of 11 percent of my classmates and 38 percent of Houstonians. Most of all, I am insulted that Rice is deceiving people by saying one thing and yet doing another.

Please do not just take my word for this — listen to the other students who have written public letters of protest at www.savericehispanicstudies.org. It is hard to imagine what we can say now that will somehow be given more consideration than what hundreds of students have already said. But seeing as I am leaving Rice soon, I suppose there is only one thing left for me to say: I will put my alumni donations on hold until Rice demonstrates a true commitment to Edgar Odell Lovett’s “Enduring Vision” — reaffirmed in 1997 by the Rice University Board — to foster a learning community drawn from “a full range of ethnic and cultural traditions represented in Houston, our nation and throughout the world.”

Stephen Dictor is a Martel College senior.

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