Study Acting with A Pro

The Forum

Alberto Vazquez is offering for the month of January, a free audit of his class that involves Lee Starsberg, Sanford Meisner and Eric Morris techniques. A free audit (with no participation: just observing); or with participation $15 dollars. Thereafter, the first registration fee for the month will be $100 dollars. After that discount month, the classes are $200 monthly.

This first class will be on Monday, January 3rd / but the regular schedule of classes are Tuesday’s starting January, 11, 18, 25th and continuous after January. Audits will be for the month of January!

Alberto Vazquez does an hour long series of warm-up exercises, then improves, then followed by script analysis, scene analysis, monologue study, moment-to-moment work,aidition technique and much more…

For appointment for audit, call: 917-331-3850
Check website for bio and credits at: www.actoralbertovazquez.com

Study Acting with A Pro

The Forum

Alberto Vazquez is offering for the month of January, a free audit of his class that involves Lee Starsberg, Sanford Meisner and Eric Morris techniques. A free audit (with no participation: just observing); or with participation $15 dollars. Thereafter, the first registration fee for the month will be $100 dollars. After that discount month, the classes are $200 monthly.

This first class will be on Monday, January 3rd / but the regular schedule of classes are Tuesday’s starting January, 11, 18, 25th and continuous after January. Audits will be for the month of January!

Alberto Vazquez does an hour long series of warm-up exercises, then improves, then followed by script analysis, scene analysis, monologue study, moment-to-moment work,aidition technique and much more…

For appointment for audit, call: 917-331-3850
Check website for bio and credits at: www.actoralbertovazquez.com

PRdream mourns the passing of Frank Bonilla 1925-2010

The Forum, , ,

Professor Frank Bonilla (born 1925) is an American academic of Puerto Rican descent who became a leading figure in Puerto Rican Studies. After earning his doctorate from Harvard University, where his dissertation was supervised by Talcott Parsons, he held faculty positions at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and the City University of New York. He is a key figure in the establishment of the Puerto Rican Hispanic Leadership Forum and the Center for Puerto Rico Studies at the City University of New York. He was an early supporter of PRdream.com.

Biography
Bonilla was born in New York City in 1925. His parents were both from Puerto Rico and had moved to the United States early in their lives. His mother emigrated to the United States in hopes of attending college, and his father had been a cigar maker and had served in the U.S. Cavalry. They were on the same boat going to the United States, and it was there where they met and began their courtship.

Bonilla was raised in East Harlem, a neighborhood full of diversity of culture and race. He said that children were very often exposed to multiple languages at an early age and that they became bilingual to interact with people in their day-to-day lives. Bonilla spent his first years of high school attending a Franciscan high school in Illinois, where he showed academic and leadership skills. His favorite subjects were classical Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, and German. He was also elected President of his class. Bonilla then transferred to Morris High School (Bronx, New York). After he graduated from Morris high in 1943, he was drafted and assigned to a weapons platoon. Bonilla was taught to be a mortar gunner and was assigned to the 290th Infantry Regiment, 75th Infantry Division.

World War II service

The 290th Infantry Regiment, 75th Infantry Division was involved in the Battle of the Bulge. Bonilla served in this battle at the front of the line for nearly a month.

After serving at the front lines, Bonilla sustained an injury and had to be hospitalized in France. After a brief three week hospitalization, Bonilla was reassigned to a replacement depot in France. It was there that he was invited to join the Puerto Rican National Guard near Frankfurtand assigned as the company clerk. He soon realized that the Puerto Rican soldiers had a divide. The Puerto Rican soldiers raised in the United States were looked down upon by those who had grown up in Puerto Rico, and referred to the emigrated Puerto Ricans as “American Joes”. Bonilla said of this experience, “The military experience helped to consolidate my sense of being Puerto Rican and also a sense of wanting to study and be a scholar.”

Post-war career

Bonilla returned to the United States after he was discharged from the military and made use of the educational benefits of the G.I. Bill to attend the College of the City of New York. He graduated cum laude in 1949 with a B.A. in business administration. He went on to pursue a master’s degree in sociology from New York University, which he earned in 1954. He attended Harvard University and received a doctorate in sociology soon after.

Dr. Bonilla played a key role in the formation of the Puerto Rican Hispanic Leadership Forum to help manage the needs of Puerto Ricans in New York. He also played an instrumental role in the formation of the Center for Puerto Rico Studies at the City University of New York, where he served as founding director until his retirement in 1995. He died after a long illness on December 28, 2010.

Frank Bonilla: Centro Profile

Dr. Frank Bonilla, Thomas Hunter Professor Emeritus, Hunter College of the City University of New York, devoted his life to understanding and exposing the political and economic forces that engender exploitation and injustice and to joining community struggles against racial and ethnic oppression, especially in education. The fruits of his labor are found in the thriving of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at CUNY’s Hunter College; in his pioneering research on the political economy of Puerto Rico and migration to the United States; and in his extensive contributions to collaborative research on Latinos in a globalizing economy. Moreover, Bonilla is known to a multitude of Latinos and African Americans for serving as a bridge-builder between communities of color and to advocacy groups and progressive policymakers across the United States for his determination in the global quest for human rights and dignity.

Education and Early Career Born in New York in 1925 of parents who migrated to the U.S. from Puerto Rico, Bonilla lived as a child in East Harlem and the Bronx, though several years of middle and high school were spent in Tennessee and Illinois. In many of his writings and speeches, he described his school years in the South as a transformative experience. The concept and implications of “race” in the United States first became constituted for him at the Mason-Dixon Line where, though his New York birth certificate categorized him as “white,” he was instructed by the driver of a Greyound Bus to surrender his seat and move to the back. His subjection to forced segregation as a person of color in the South, combined with the social, political, and economic marginalization of Puerto Ricans in New York, informed his career choices and life trajectory. Following his graduation from Morris High School in the South Bronx, Bonilla was drafted into the U.S. Army, served with the 190th Infantry Regiment, 75th Infantry, and fought in World War II’s Battle of the Bulge. When an injury removed him from the front lines, he joined the ranks of the Puerto Rican National Guard in Germany. Upon returning to the U.S., he earned his B.B.A. in 1949, graduating cum laude from the College of the City of New York, his M.A. in Sociology from New York University in 1954, and his doctorate in Sociology from Harvard University in 1959.

Bonilla began his academic career in 1960 as a member of The American Universities Field Service in Latin America. Starting with a project initiative on behalf of UNESCO and the Economic Commission for Latin America, his research for the next three years in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Brazil investigated the relationship between social development and education in Latin America. In this period, Dr. Bonilla lectured at seven U.S. campuses and at the Pontifícia Unversidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro.

When Bonilla joined the Political Science Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (1963-1969), he pursued his interests in Latin America as a senior staff member at MIT’s Center of International Studies. He joined an extensive investigation into Venezuelan politics, conducted in collaboration with the Center for Development Studies of the Central University of Venezuela (CENDES), served as Program Advisor in Social Science to the Ford Foundation in Brazil, and lectured as Visiting Professor at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. His support for his Latin American students and collaboration with Latin American colleagues continued for decades following his return to the United States.

Bonilla’s years of residence and research agenda in Latin America yielded several notable books. The Failure of Elites (1970) presented a far-sighted study of how oil companies and the U.S. state in the 1960s acted as socializing agents in Venezuela, producing leaders in business, politics, and the armed forces who became partners of multinational capital but lost the capacity to act on behalf of national development. Bonilla found that Venezuelan elites in the period had little or no sustained contact with the mass of people and no sense of obligation to meet the needs of the population. The second book, Student Politics in Chile (1970), co-authored with Myron Glazer, contributed a vital piece to the comparative study of campus politics in Latin America by offering a comprehensive view of the Chilean student movement from the early 1900s to the 1960s.

As Professor of Political Science and Senior Associate of the Institute of Political Studies at Stanford University (1969-1972), Bonilla created opportunities for dialogue among Latin Americans, Chicanos, African Americans, and Puerto Ricans in the United States. In 1972, Brazilian, Venezuelan, Panamanian, Jamaican, Argentinian, African American, Chicano, and Puerto Rican scholars and students attended a seminar to explore ways to establish a common framework for analyzing inequality and dependence. The seminar produced Structures of Dependency, the volume of essays edited by Bonilla and Robert Girling that challenged the dominant dependency paradigm used by the Left academy to analyze Latin American political economies. In his contribution, Bonilla noted as one major flaw of dependency theory its failure to identify strategies that would permit oppressed nations to act against imperialism.

The Stanford seminar was also an occasion for developing critical perspectives on theoretical and methodological approaches in the study of Latinos and other minority groups in the U.S. As an early advocate of the militant efforts of minority students and faculty to establish space within U.S. universities and to accomplish their own intellectual work, Bonilla joined students, faculty, and community activists in New York in proposing a research institute for investigating the Puerto Rican experience. When the proposal was accepted and funded by CUNY and the Ford Foundation, the search committee formed in early 1973 unanimously chose Bonilla as the first Director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies. (See “Finding Aids” for an account of the mission, historical development, and achievements of the Centro.) The forming of the Centro and his appointment as Director was a profoundly significant personal achievement, as it gave Bonilla the opportunity to return to New York to serve his community in ways that would have a profound and long-lasting impact.

Tenure at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies

Most significantly, in his twenty-year tenure as Director, Bonilla provided the intellectual, political, and organizational leadership that helped to define the field of Puerto Rican Studies and to firmly establish the Centro as a vital academic and community resource. Within a short time of its founding, the Centro’s organizational structure and research agendas were shaped by commitments to collective governance, scholarship in service of community, and broad accessibility.

As Director of the only university-based institute in the United States devoted to the interdisciplinary study of the Puerto Rican experience, Bonilla oversaw research in history, political economy, demographic transitions, and social and cultural development. His most well-known contributions were made to the History Task Force, through his close collaboration with Ricardo Campos. In the published version of its findings, Labor Migration under Capitalism (1979), the History Task Force critiqued the dependency framework as inadequate for explaining the colonial relationship between Puerto Rico and the U.S. and located the root of massive post-World War II labor migration from the island to the U.S. paradoxically in the development model known as “Operation Bootstrap.” In a subsequent study, “A Wealth of Poor: Puerto Ricans in the New Economic Order” (1981), Bonilla and Campos further illustrated the flaws of the political-economic model which caused persistently high levels of unemployment, extreme social stress, and “brain drain” from Puerto Rico to the United States.

Bonilla was also greatly concerned about the disproportionate levels of imprisonment in communities of color and the need for prison reform. Bringing the experience of similar initiatives with him from Stanford, he encouraged the Centro’s Prison Task Force to develop a program of college study for inmates in New York. He worked resolutely worked for community empowerment by joining dozens of community-based and policy advocacy organizations and coalitions intent on combating institutional racism and promoting educational opportunities for minorities; in many cases, he was the principal public spokesperson. He served on the Boards of Directors of the Empowerment Institute of the Community Service Society of the City of New York, a 140-year-old nonprofit organization involved in social and education issues, and of Open Mind, The Association for the Achievement of Cultural Diversity in Higher Education. A small sample of additional affiliations includes the Social Science Advisory Board of the Poverty and Race Research Institute, the National Puerto Rican Task Force on Educational Policy, and the Puerto Rican Organization for Growth, Research, Education and Self-Sufficiency (P.R.O.G.R.E.S.S., Inc.). Throughout his life, he remained committed to strengthening bonds between African Americans and Puerto Ricans. Of special note are his participation in the National Commission on Minorities in Higher Education, his advocacy of redistricting policy reform, and his invited testimonies before the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus on the deleterious effects of U.S. colonialism in Puerto Rico.

Despite his extensive community commitments and administrative responsibilities, Bonilla was a passionate educator who was broadly accessible to his students at CUNY’s Graduate Center, where he taught in the Political Science Department from 1973 to 1993 and in the Sociology Department from 1977 to 1993. In 1986, he was appointed Thomas Hunter Professor of Sociology at CUNY’s Hunter College. As a popular dissertation advisor at the Graduate Center, Dr. Bonilla mentored many students who remained close to him long after completing their degrees. Throughout his life, he encouraged new scholars to understand the political implications of social scientific research and to embrace their potential role in the service of liberation of oppressed peoples.

Ten years after his retirement, Bonilla was honored by the staff and friends of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at its 30th Anniversary Celebration in 2003, where he received a Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Rossana Rosado, publisher and CEO of El Diario-La Prensa, the oldest Spanish-language daily newspaper in the United States.

Inter-University Program for Latino Research

One of the most enduring projects Bonilla launched as the Centro’s Director is the Inter-University Program for Latino Research (IUPLR), co-founded with three colleagues in 1986. What began as a national consortium of eight university-based research centers grew to include more than twenty universities and to serve as a model for other initiatives that pursue interdisciplinary research cooperation in Latino Studies. Bonilla served IUPLR as Managing Co-Director from 1988 to 1993 and Executive Director from 1993 to 1995. He remained on IUPLR’s National Board of Advisors for several years following his retirement.

As Director of IUPLR, Bonilla was the principal coordinator of the project entitled, “Latinos in a Changing U.S. Economy.” The multinational team he assembled tracked the impact of international, national, and regional forces in shaping labor force participation and earnings of Latinos in the U.S. He was one of the driving forces as well in convening the conference in Northern Italy that brought together scholars, policy makers, and activists involved in analyzing the globalizing economic forces at the center of the “Latinization of the United States,” and the emerging political consequences and opportunities. Borderless Borders: U.S. Latinos, Latin Americans, and the Paradox of Interdependence (1998), co-edited by Bonilla, Edwin Meléndez, Rebecca Morales and María de los Angeles Torres, is the acclaimed product of the conference.

Additional Publications, Activities and Honors

Frank Bonilla was a prolific writer and advocate of collaborative research among scholars of the Latino diasporas. He wrote, edited, co-authored or co-edited dozens of books, monographs, articles for refereed journals, and chapters in edited books. He delivered papers internationally on human rights, minority experiences in the U.S., and research methodologies; encouraged cultural and educational exchange programs between the U.S. and Caribbean countries; and acted as confidant and critic to countless aspiring scholars and community organizers.

Among his many honors, Bonilla received the Distinguished Alumni Award from CCNY in 1972 and the Ralph C. Guzmán Award of the American Political Science Association in 1986 for Excellence in Scholarship and Service to the Profession. He was recognized by Mercy College in 1987 and by the University of Washington, D.C. in 1993 with Doctor of Letters Honors Causa Awards, by Hunter College with the President’s Medal in 1993, and by the Council of Dominican Educators with its Service Award also in 1993. In 2003, he was the first recipient of the Public Intellectual Award of the Latino Studies Section of the Latin American Studies Association; and the Award was subsequently named after him.

Retirement Years: Family, Recreation, and Ongoing Intellectual and Political Concerns

Bonilla has been a central figure in his large, extended family. Among his three children, five grandchildren, great grandchild, siblings, and many nieces and nephews, he is known to cherish family gatherings and to give generously of his time to his loved ones. He spoke proudly of the “mosaic of kinship” in his family that depicted the “multiracial reality of Puerto Ricans and other Latinos as well as Afro-Americans that is now exploding in the U.S.” Though the passions that drove him to apply his intellectual talents to the pursuit of justice left Bonilla with little time for leisure, his recreational pastimes included swimming, fishing, biking, reading, and writing. For some years in the 1980s and 1990s, he enjoyed these pleasures at his home in Montauk, on the East End of Long Island, New York.

Though formally retired by the late 1990s, Dr. Bonilla continued to emphasize the importance of promoting Latino academic and policy research capabilities and bringing Latino voices and perspectives into the U.S. foreign policy arena. In his words, “we must continue to seek a place within the university from which to articulate the social and intellectual problems of our community while reaffirming the intent to define and control our own intellectual agenda…. To create new knowledge and quickly and comprehensibly transfer it to a long-denied community is the principal goal of all our effort….”

University of Puerto Rico Protests: More Updates from NILP

The Forum

C O N T E N T S
* “Puerto Rico students renew protests over tuition rise,” Reuters (December 22, 2010)
* “Puerto Rico Student Strike Intensifies, Public Education and Civil Rights at Stake” by Maritza Stanchich, Ph.D., San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center (December 21, 2010)
* “A Welcome Change of Approach to University Strikes” By Dr. Brad R. Weiner. The Huffington Post (December 22, 2010)
* “Cuban National Assembly Expressed its Solidarity with Puerto Rican Students, ” Radio Cadena Agramonte (December 24, 2010)
* Open Letter to US Attorney General Holder on UPR Situation by Puerto Rican Scholars (December 16, 2010)
* National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights Press Release (December 22, 2010)

Puerto Rico students renew protests over tuition rise
Reuters (December 22, 2010)

SAN JUAN (Reuters) – Students in Puerto Rico kept up protests on Wednesday against a new fee at the U.S. Caribbean territory’s main public university after a week of demonstrations that led to arrests of several protesters.

The students are protesting a new $800 annual fee set to take effect in January and aimed at helping the University of Puerto Rico offset a budget deficit.

Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth, has been mired in a deep recession since 2006 and Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuno has cut spending and raised taxes on multinational firms operating on the island to reduce a $3.2 billion government deficit.

Dozens of student protesters gathered outside the university’s main campus on Wednesday, chanting slogans and singing songs.

The student protests had turned violent on Monday when a group threw rocks, bottles and smoke bombs inside classrooms as police used batons to break up the demonstration. At least 17 students were arrested in the melee.

Eight of those arrested appeared before judges late on Tuesday and two were charged with weapons violations and assault against public officials. The others were charged with misdemeanors including obstruction of justice.

The new fee comes on top of existing annual tuition costs of around $1,530.

However, critics of the university protests say a majority of students qualify for annual grants totaling $5,550, enabling students to absorb the cost of the new expense.

(Writing by Kevin Gray; Editing by Greg McCune)

Puerto Rico Student Strike Intensifies, Public Education and Civil Rights at Stake
by Maritza Stanchich, Ph.D.
San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center (December 21, 2010)

Listen to live coverage of the student strike from Puerto Rico on Radio Huelga: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/radiohuelga

Facebook updates: http://www.facebook.com/RadioHuelga

Video of police violence: http://www.primerahora.com/violenciaenlaupr-455182.html

Coincident with massive, at times explosive, student protests in Rome and London, University of Puerto Rico has again become a flashpoint with a student strike beginning Tuesday that turned the main campus into a militarized zone of police, riot squads, and SWAT teams, complete with low-flying helicopters and snipers. What began as a conflict over a steep student fee hike is now seen as a larger struggle to preserve public education against privatization.

Resistance to the imposed $800 student fee has triggered repressive state measures: police have occupied the main campus for the first time in 31 years and Monday the local Supreme Court, recently stacked by the pro-Statehood political party in power, outlawed student strikes and campus protests. More than 500 students defied the ruling by demonstrating on campus Tuesday, brandishing the slogan “They fear us because we don’t fear them” (“Nos tienen miedo porque no tenemos miedo”). This current strike revisits accords to negotiate the $800 fee, which in June ended a two-month shut down of 10 of 11 UPR campuses, as UPR faces a $240 million budget shortfall precipitated by the state not honoring its own debt to the institution.

Civil rights groups have declared a state of high alert in the wake of disturbances last week and statements by leading public officials seen as creating a hostile climate that inhibits free speech rights. In response, about 15,000 UPR supporters marched on Sunday from San Juan’s Capitol building to La Fortaleza governor’s mansion, under a balmy bright blue tropical sky in this U.S. Territory of about four million U.S citizens, though little known to most Americans beyond being a tourist destination.

In the standoff leading up to this week, top university officials have repeatedly threatened that a strike may prompt them to shut down the main campus at Río Piedras, which serves 20,000 plus students, employs about 1,200 professors and 5,000 non-teaching staff, and hosts millions in scientific research funding (system-wide the UPR serves about 65,000 students). In addition, 10 of 11 University of Puerto Rico campuses remain on probation by its accrediting agency, The Middle States Association, in the areas of long-term fiscal viability and effective administrative governance, of which the current student mobilization is a symptom, not a cause.

Tensions mounted last week leading up to a two-day student walkout when Capitol Security, a private security firm contracted by the university for $1.5 million, demolished entrance gates to the campus. Hired guards were young with little or no training or evaluation, bore no identification badges and some were armed with sticks and pipes in a climate of intimidation perhaps not seen since dockworkers strikes of the 1940s. Many of the guards had been recruited from marginalized Afro-Puerto Rican communities, such as Villa Cañona in Loíza, which has been the site of documented police abuses, lending a disturbing dimension of institutionalized racism, according to community leaders there.

Several violent incidents were reported, including a student who was seriously beaten and injured by guards. One video purportedly of students breaking security van windows was repeatedly aired in the local media as the justification for the police occupation of the campus, just as students had peacefully concluded the two-day walkout last Wednesday evening.

“UPR has a long history of infiltrators and saboteurs involved to instigate such incidents,” said William Ramírez, Executive Director of the Puerto Rico chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. The purported incident capped off a series of provocations. Gov. Luis Fortuño in a televised appearance openly declared that leftists would no longer be tolerated on the campus. His Chief of Staff Marcos Rodríguez Ema publicly taunted that students and professors who dare protest will get their asses kicked out (“vamos a sacarlos a patadas”).

The university administration has also designated areas limiting protests to outside the campus, and on Monday Chancellor Ana Guadalupe formally prohibited all protests or group activities of any type on the campus through January 15. The chancellor also issued an edict this week requiring all students to carry their student identification cards at all times.

According to Ramírez, Fortuño’s public statements targeting leftists, designated protest areas off campus and protest prohibitions are violations of constitutionally-protected First Amendment rights. The police presence and heavily-equipped riot squads also create a climate of intimidation that restricts expression, he added.

“Rather than responding to violence, they have created a violent environment,” Ramírez said, adding that under such conditions, in which a police occupation is deployed as a preemptive measure, “it is almost guaranteed that violence will occur.”

In response to the campus police presence, a majority in a meeting of about 300 professors Thursday voted to refuse to hold classes on campus while under siege, with senior professors recalling the trauma of deadly campus police violence during the last occupation in 1981. On Saturday, Police Chief José Figueroa Sancha announced plans for a permanent police precinct on the campus, using drug interdiction as the justification despite common knowledge that drug puntos or selling points operate a steady business a short distance from the university. Normally the campus operates with its own contingent of security guards.

Some student leaders who are not pro-strike have also voiced complaints about the police takeover of campus. Omar Rodríguez, Student Council president for the College of Education and founder and editor of the 30,000+ member-strong Facebook page Estudiantes de la UPR Informan, reported that he was attacked without provocation by private security guards and that the police stood by and laughed when he pleaded for their intervention.

“The exaggerated police presence is unnecessary and intimidating,” he said, adding that it was pedagogically absurd to expect students to concentrate properly on their studies in such an environment.

Making the best of these tensions, student strike leader Giovanni Roberto reached out to dialogue with Capitol Security guards in working-class solidarity. “They brought us the youth who are precisely the reason we are struggling, so that they could have access to the university,” he said.

It is estimated that the new $800 fee will force 10,000 UPR students to leave the university, though the state legislature and the Fortuño government have enacted last-ditch efforts to create funds for student jobs and scholarships. Numerous proposals from credible sources detailing fiscal alternatives to the fee seem to fall on deaf ears.

The strike itself has yet to build broad support, however. Widespread concern that a strike will jeopardize the institution’s survival has mobilized some against the strike, including students, despite majority opposition to the $800 fee. While students from other UPR campuses held walkouts or approved strikes, yet other campuses recently voted down such measures. And non-striking students at the Río Piedras campus, including previous strike leaders, signed a public proclamation to keep the campus open and classes running normally.

Nevertheless, strike organizers are gambling that the blunders of the administration will win support for the students as well as mobilize other groups. The largest professors’ organization, Asociación Puertorriqueña de Profesores Universitarios, and the non-teaching staff union, La Hermandad de Empleados No-Docentes, issued standard calls to members to respect pickets. And president of the UTIER electrical workers union, Ángel Figueroa Jaramillo, issued a public call for support from Tuesday’s campus demonstration.

Whether or not this current conflict has the potential to destabilize the Fortuño administration depends in part on a broader context of economic well being. Fortuño and a legislative majority from the extreme right came to power with a broad mandate to punish the previous party in power for the worst economic downturn in decades, with no mid-term or recall elections in Puerto Rico as a check on current policies.

A self-described Reaganite, Fortuño has become a darling of the Republican Party for imposing highly unpopular austerity measures through legislation called Ley 7 (Law 7), laying off 20,000 public sector employees; targeting government agencies, including UPR, with crippling cuts aimed at perceived ideological enemies; and declaring null and void all public sector labor contracts for three years. Such a move, reminiscent of President Reagan’s firing of striking air traffic controllers, should have stateside unions wary of Republican Party policy interest.

In fact the fee as a mechanism to destroy the social mission of the affordable public university of excellence was instituted by then Gov. Reagan at University of California, which saw a 32% fee increase last November and an additional 10% more recently, despite protests and arrests there.

It has also been reported that the Fortuño administration has already begun negotiations to sell off — or long-term lease — UPR campuses to private colleges, including those owned by major contributors to his campaign. And this just as a student loan default crisis associated with mediocre private colleges in the United States threatens to spiral into as costly a mess as the mortgage crisis.

The events unfolding cohere with the popular thesis of Canadian author Naomi Klein, known as “disaster capitalism.” However, students are mobilizing in Puerto Rico and worldwide around deep cuts to public higher education and subsequent privatization, in movements that may just be getting their first wind.

“From San Diego to Rome, from San Juan to London and Amsterdam, 2010 will be remembered as the year of student protests internationally,” commented Antonio Carmona Báez, Ph.D., a political science lecturer at the University of Amsterdam. “Not since 1968 have university students stood up around the globe — simultaneously — against authority, this time to save public education.”

Maritza Stanchich, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Puerto Rico.

A Welcome Change of Approach to University Strikes
By Dr. Brad R. Weiner
The Huffington Post (December 22, 2010)

A few days ago in this blog space, my colleague, Dr. Maritza Stanchich, posted an overview of yet another student strike at the University of Puerto Rico. Her viewpoint is clearly pro-strike and runs counter to the opinions of many University of Puerto Rico faculty, students, and employees. Allow me to present a different viewpoint of the same conflict.

The standard mechanism for student strikes at the University of Puerto Rico is to forcibly deny everybody else at the institution their rights to study, to teach, to work, and to do research. This mechanism is illegal on many levels. It denies others their basic civil rights. It violates University of Puerto Rico student regulations that clearly state students have no right to impede academic activities. It flies in the face of the university’s Non-Confrontation Policy that says no groups or individuals have the right to impede academic or administrative activities.

Student strikes are not protected under Puerto Rico’s laws because students do not have an employee-employer relationship with the university. In the numerous legal actions brought by the University of Puerto Rico in the Superior Court, and, most recently, before the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, the courts have ruled that student strikes are, in fact, illegal and are not a valid exercise of freedom of speech. The courts have ordered student strikers to cease and desist from their actions. For 25 years, the illegality of the strikes at every level has not led the university to be proactive about maintaining access to the campus. In the current case and as a part of the Open University Policy, the University of Puerto Rico administration has taken action by bringing in the state police to assure free access to the campus and to guarantee the rights of those who want to continue offering classes, taking classes, and doing their jobs.

During my 23+ years of employment at UPR, I have repeatedly been denied free access to my laboratory and my office, my places of work, by whichever group that chooses to violate my civil rights as a pressure point for their cause. In my younger assistant professor years, I just jumped the fence to go to work and avoid controversy. More recently, I have begun to fight for my rights. In 2005, ten professors (I was one) sued the university to guarantee our access to our laboratories. After winning a preliminary injunction in federal court, we settled our case with the university when the board of trustees emitted a certification guaranteeing that all campuses would be open, regardless of strikes. In the 62-day strike earlier this year, I was physically threatened, pushed, spit upon, and insulted by groups who tried to deny me access, but I insisted on my rights.

Contrary to what Dr. Stanchich portrays as a peaceful movement, this type of abuse and violence is routine during strikes at the University of Puerto Rico. Numerous student strikers hide their identities by covering their faces with hoods and masks, and they carry weapons, such as metal tubes, sticks with nails in them, baseball bats, and slingshots with lead pellets. Just last week, in an effort to disrupt normal activity and create terror, hooded students threw smoke bombs into classrooms filled with students. Following such incidents, and unlike prior occasions when such intimidation occurred, Puerto Rico police are now present, and they have ably maintained campus access for all university employees and students. For many years, I have waited for the university or the government of Puerto Rico to defend my civil rights. This is the first time they have done so. In that sense, I am very satisfied with the actions taken by the university administration.

Over the last 30 years, the Río Piedras campus of the University of Puerto Rico has been moving towards becoming a first-rate research institution. It is beginning to succeed. According to the National Science Foundation’s latest data, 24% of Hispanics in the United States who obtain a PhD in Science, Mathematics or Engineering, passed through the University of Puerto Rico for some part of their education. The UPR-Río Piedras Strategic Plan, Vision 2016 — endorsed by all campus academic and administrative bodies — asserts the importance of research, knowledge creation, and scholarly activity. In keeping with that objective, the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras has grown its existing graduate programs, created new doctoral offerings, and expanded its external funding profile with federal agencies.

As required for research institutions, the university has a contractual obligation and responsibility to comply with federal and state laws governing research and laboratory operations, including the safe stewardship of highly specialized equipment, dangerous chemicals, and human and animal research. The university has acted correctly in bringing in the appropriate level of security to safeguard not only the interests of the institution and its constituents, but of the general public as well.

Many of the recent UPR student conflicts have received national and even international attention. As a result, my stateside colleagues invariably have many questions. I always try to carefully explain the issues. Inevitably, I get the following question: “How much do students at the University of Puerto Rico pay for tuition and fees?” My answer: $1200-$1500, depending on the number of credits. Per semester? No, per year. At that point, the discussion usually ends in disbelief because they cannot believe (1) how low the tuition and fees are, and (2) how it possibly can be an issue, given the cost of higher education everywhere else, including other institutions in Puerto Rico.

When we add to the equation the multiple sources of financial assistance available to UPR students, e.g. Pell Grants, student loans, etc., it should be clear that the issue of resources is not the primary reason for the student conflict. Of course, it goes without saying no one wants to increase the costs of education. Moreover, I fully understand some UPR students have difficulty paying the current modest tuition and will have even greater problems meeting the new $400 per semester fee. For that very reason, the government has created several special scholarship funds totaling more than $30 million dollars to address the needs of that sector.

With the awarding of over 300,000 degrees, the University of Puerto Rico has distinguished itself over the last 100+ years. UPR alumni from a wide range of academic disciplines have brought honor to the institution through their service to Puerto Rico and to the nation. Yet, today the institution is on the brink of losing its Middle States Commission on Higher Education accreditation and being de-certified for U.S. Department of Education Title IV funds.

The current situation at the University of Puerto Rico threatens not only the present and the future of the institution, but also the past. Alumni may soon find themselves with a degree from a non-existent university. I, personally, am proud to be an integral part of a public research institution that has made a difference in so many students’ lives. It would be a great tragedy to lose such a successful institution because a small minority cannot accept the will of the majority and the economic realities of the times. The time to put politics aside, analyze the real data, and reach the conclusion that serves the greater good has arrived.

Brad R. Weiner is Professor of Chemistry and Dean of the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras.

Cuban National Assembly Expressed its Solidarity with Puerto Rican Students
Radio Cadena Agramonte (December 24, 2010)

Havana, Cuba, Dec 23.- The Cuban National Assembly issued a declaration condemning the police repression against Puerto Rican students, and claiming for international solidarity with their cause.

The Juventud Rebelde newspaper published the declaration, which was signed by the commissions of Foreign Affairs, Education, Science and Culture, Youth and Childhood Care, and Women’s Equal Rights.

The document notes that, for several days, hundreds of students are protesting against increasing of the enrolment fees of the University of Puerto Rico, in Rio Piedras.

It states that these students have been the objects of violent repression by police; and many of them are wounded or arrested.

The declaration affirms that this is not an isolated event because in recent years, Puerto Rican students have protested against similar injustices.

It adds that, in view of such a violent response of the police, in complicity with the colonial authorities of that nation, it is vital to condemn their situation.

The document claims for the solidarity of all peoples, Human Rights Organizations, and Parliaments worldwide to demand the end of repression and safeguard the physical integrity of the demonstrators. (ACN)

Open Letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder from Puerto Rican Academics

The Forum, ,

December 16, 2010

Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr. Attorney General of the United States
The United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530-0001

Dear Mr. Holder:

As Puerto Rican scholars teaching in the United States we have decided to write to you in order to express our deep concern with regard to recent developments at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). For the past months, the University has experienced a continuing conflict that began last semester with a call for a strike by the students in response to an increase in academic tuition and related to fears about the future of public higher education on the island. Unfortunately, university administrators, professors, and students have not been able to negotiate a satisfactory agreement. The whole process has recently culminated in the intervention of Governor Luis Fortuño and the deployment of a massive police presence on the main university campus at Río Piedras and on other campuses in the system, including a private security contractor and fully armed SWAT units.

On December 13, Chancellor Ana R. Guadalupe banned all meetings, festivals, manifestations, and all other so-called large activities on the Río Piedras campus for a period of thirty days. In our view, this represents a clear breach of fundamental constitutional rights. The justifications given by the Chancellor are that this measure is required in order to keep the campus open and to return it to normal operations. Furthermore, professors and workers are being asked (under the threat of punishment) to continue working despite the intense volatility caused by the police presence on campus.

We remain very concerned that such use of force may in fact increase the potential for violence and continued tension, especially if the guarantees of freedom of speech, association, and assembly have been revoked. Both the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico guarantee these rights. Moreover, this week the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico (which, without the opportunity for serious public debate, was recently restructured by the government of Luis Fortuño in order to ensure a clear majority of judges in his favor) declared, in a disturbing resolution, that strikes will be prohibited at all UPR campuses effective immediately.

We the undersigned write to you as scholars and citizens because of the potentially lethal conditions that we have described and that prevail at the UPR. That is why we urge you to intervene in order to:
1. Guarantee the constitutional rights of freedom of speech, association, and assembly as stipulated by both constitutions and to see that the conflict is conducted under the strictest observation of human and civil rights for all parties involved.
2. Procure the immediate withdrawal of all state and city police, private contractors, and other non-UPR security personnel from the University of Puerto Rico system currently under occupation.
3. Call all parties to meet and have a truly productive dialogue.

Respectfully yours,
[Institutional affiliations for identification purposes only. Please respond to primary contacts.]

1) Agnes Lugo-Ortiz, The University of Chicago [Primary contact] lugortiz@uchicago.edu
2) Ivette N. Hernández-Torres, University of California, Irvine [Primary contact] ivetteh@uci.edu
3) Luis F. Avilés, University of California, Irvine [Primary contact] laviles9631@sbcglobal.net
4) Aldo Lauria-Santiago, Rutgers University [Primary contact] alauria@rci.rutgers.edu
5) Arcadio Díaz-Quiñones Emory L. Ford Professor, Emeritus, Princeton University adiaz@princeton.edu
6) Aníbal González-Pérez, Yale University anibal.gonzalez@yale.edu
7) Luis Figueroa-Martínez, Trinity College Treasurer, Puerto Rican Studies Association (PRSA) Luis.Figueroa@trincoll.edu
8) Roberto Alejandro, University of Massachusetts, Amherst ralejand@polsci.umass.edu
9) Harry Vélez-Quiñones, University of Puget Sound velez@pugetsound.edu
10) Ismael García-Colón, College of Staten Island, CUNY Ismael.Garcia@csi.cuny.edu
11) Áurea María Sotomayor-Miletti, University of Pittsburgh aureamariastmr@yahoo.com
12) Antonio Lauria-Perricelli, New York University al71@nyu.edu
13) Wanda Rivera Rivera, University of Massachusetts, Boston Wanda.Rivera-Rivera@umb.edu
14) José Quiroga, Emory University jquirog@emory.edu
15) Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor lawrlafo@yahoo.co.uk
16) Daniel Torres, Ohio University torres@ohio.edu
17) Pablo Delano, Trinity College Pablo.Delano@trincoll.edu
18) Denise Galarza Sepúlveda, Lafayette College
galarzad@lafayette.edu
19) Richard Rosa, Duke University rr49@duke.edu
20) Eleuterio Santiago-Díaz, University of New Mexico esantia@unm.edu
21) Ilia Rodríguez, University of New Mexico ilia@unm.edu
22) Ramón H. Rivera-Servera, Northwestern University r-rivera-servera@northwestern.edu
23) Gladys M. Jiménez-Muñoz, Binghamton University-SUNY gjimenez@binghamton.edu
24) Luz-María Umpierre Poet, Scholar, Human Rights Advocate LUmpierre@aol.com
25) Sheila Candelario, Fairfield University candelariosheila@hotmail.com
26) Edna Acosta-Belén, University at Albany, SUNY eab@albany.edu
27) Efraín Barradas, University of Florida at Gainsville barradas@LATAM.UFL.EDU
28) Kelvin Santiago-Valles, Binghamton University-SUNY stgokel@binghamton.edu
29) Víctor Figueroa, Wayne State University an7664@wayne.edu
30) Juan Duchesne Winter, University of Pittsburgh juanduchesne@yahoo.com
31) Pablo A. Llerandi-Román, Grand Valley State University llerandp@gvsu.edu
32) Irmary Reyes-Santos, University of Oregon irmary@uoregon.edu
33) Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé, Fordham University cruzmalave@fordham.edu
34) Ileana M. Rodríguez-Silva, University of Washington imrodrig@uw.edu
35) César A. Salgado, University of Texas, Austin cslgd@mail.utexas.edu
36) Jossianna Arroyo, University of Texas, Austin jarroyo@mail.utexas.edu
37) Francisco A. Scarano, University of Wisconsin, Madison fscarano@wisc.edu
38) Jaime Rodríguez Matos, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor jaimerod@umich.edu
39) Cecilia Enjuto Rangel, University of Oregon enjuto@uoregon.edu
40) Elpidio Laguna-Díaz, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey elplag@optonline.net
41) Lena Burgos-Lafuente, SUNY, Stony Brook lenabu@nyu.edu
42) Ramón Grosfoguel, University of California, Berkeley grosfogu@berkeley.edu
43) José Francisco Buscaglia Salgado, SUNY, Buffalo Director of Program in Caribbean Studies jfb2@buffalo.edu
44) Francisco Cabanillas, Bowling Green State University fcabani@bgsu.edu
45) Lisa Sánchez González, University of Connecticut lisa.m.sanchez@uconn.edu
46) María M. Carrión, Emory University mcarrio@emory.edu
47) Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey Director Institute for Research on Women yolandatrabajo@optonline.net
48) Agustín Lao-Montes, University of Massachusetts, Amherst oxunelegua@yahoo.com
49) Jason Cortés, Rutgers University-Newark jasoncor@andromeda.rutgers.edu
50) Nelson Maldonado-Torres, Rutgers University President, Caribbean Philosophical Association nmtorres7@gmail.com
51) Daín Borges, The University of Chicago dborges@uchicago.edu
52) Edna Rodríguez-Mangual, Hamilton College emrodrig@hamilton.edu
53) Ricardo Pérez Figueroa, Eastern Connecticut State University PerezR@easternct.edu
54) Licia Fiol-Matta, Lehman College, CUNY lfiolmatta@earthlink.net
55) Frances R. Aparicio, University of Illinois at Chicago franapar@uic.edu
56) Luis E. Zayas, Arizona State University lezayas@asu.edu
57) Hortensia R. Morell, Temple University hmorell@temple.edu
58) Milagros Denis-Rosario, Hunter College mdenis@hunter.cuny.edu
59) Víctor Rodríguez, California State University, Long Beach vrodrig5@csulb.edu
60) Madeline Troche-Rodríguez, City Colleges of Chicago mtroche05@yahoo.com
61) Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo, Washington State University clugo@wsu.edu
62) Jorge Luis Castillo, University of California, Santa Barbara castillo@spanport.ucsb.edu
63) Rosa Elena Carrasquillo, College of the Holy Cross rcarrasq@holycross.edu
64) Juan Carlos Rodríguez, The Georgia Institute of Technology juan.rodriguez@modlangs.gatech.edu
65) Susana Peña, Bowling Green State University susanap@bgsu.edu
66) José R. Cartagena-Calderón, Pomona College Jose.Cartagena@pomona.edu
67) Amílcar Challu, Bowling Green State University achallu@bgsu.edu
68) Carlos J. Alonso, Columbia University calonso@columbia.edu
69) Carmen A. Rolón, Providence College CROLON@providence.edu
70) Amy Robinson, Bowling Green State University arobins@bgsu.edu
71) Consuelo Arias, Nassau Community College ecarias@att.net

Puerto Rican Scholars in Canada Who Also Subscribe to this Letter
72) Rubén A. Gaztambide-Fernández, University of Toronto rgaztambide@oise.utoronto.ca
73) Néstor E. Rodríguez, University of Toronto nestor.rodriguez@utoronto.ca
74) Gustavo J. Bobonis, University of Toronto gustavo.bobonis@utoronto.ca
cc: Thomas E. Pérez, Assistant Attorney General, United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division
Luis Gutiérrez, Congressman, Illinois 4th District
Nydia Velázquez, Congresswoman, New York 12th District
José Serrano, Congressman, New York 16th District American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Luis Fortuño, Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner in Washington
José Ramón de la Torre, President of the University of Puerto Rico
Ygrí Rivera de Martínez, President of the Board of Trustees (Junta de Síndicos), University of Puerto Rico
Ana R. Guadalupe, Chancellor of the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus

Puerto Ricans Stampede to the U.S.

The Forum, , ,

Puerto Ricans Stampede to the U.S., according to the Census Population of the island decreases by 2.2% in the last decade
By José A. Delgado | jdelgado@elnuevodia.com
El Nueva Día (December 22, 2010)
translated from Spanish by NiLP

WASHINGTON – Massive emigration to the United States and the reduction in birth rate have caused a drop of 2.2% in the population of Puerto Rico during the last decade, according to the new 2010 federal Census.

On April 1, 2010 Puerto Rico’s population was 3,725,789, or 82,821 less than in April 2000. This is the first time since the Federal Census has been conducted in Puerto Rico that the Puerto Rican population decreased from one decade to another.

Just one another federal jurisdiction, the state of Michigan, which has one of the three highest unemployment rates in the U.S. (12.4%), had a decline in their population during the last decade. The unemployment rate in Puerto Rico was in more than 16% in 2010.

“There is no doubt that in the case of Puerto Rico there has been a major migration pattern,” said Raul Cisneros, spokesman for the Federal Census, after announcing yesterday the first results from Census 2010.

According to the Census, 489.509 people moved from Puerto Rico to the United States between 2000 and 2008. “This does not include the number of people who returned to Puerto Rico during the same period,” said Professor Jorge Duany, an expert at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR).

In terms of the birth rate, statistics from the Department of Health of Puerto Rico in 2000 indicate that 15.6 children were born per 1,000 people. But in 2009, Duany stressed, the rate was 11.6 per 1,000 persons.

“The mortality rate, however, remained stable, around 7.4 deaths per 1,000 people,” said Duany.

The economic hardships of the past five years, the high rate in crime, low wages in comparison with the United States and low entry of foreign immigrants are other factors that may have caused the reduction in the population of the island

For example, data from the Planning Board indicate that between October 2000 and October 2010 Puerto Rico had 46,000 fewer employees (1.094 million), said Sergio Marxuach, an economic researcher for the Center of a New Economy (CNE).

In no other decade has there been as many murders as in the most recent. Since 2000, the total exceeds 8,600.

Foreign migration appears to have declined. Duany said Interior Department data indicate that between 2000 and 2009, 35.063 foreigners were admitted as immigrants in Puerto Rico, almost half of the total between 1990 and 1999.

Over Estimate

The first Federal Census estimates made between 2005 and 2009 overestimated the total number of residents of the Island.

Last week, preliminary calculations of the Puerto Rico Community Service placed the population of Puerto Rico at 3.94 million, about 200,000 more than the more accurate analysis presented yesterday from the 2010 Census.

The most recent estimate of the total of Puerto Ricans in the U.S. by the American Community Survey Federal Census was 4.16 million. The count of this population will be announced officially in February 2011, when announcing the next data release from the 2010 Census.

9.7% Increase in the U.S.

In the U.S., the population had an increase of 9.7%. Of the 281.4 million it had in 2000, now the total is estimated at 308.7 million (308,745, 538). In this release of the population count, the Federal Census does not include residents of Puerto Rico.

According to Cisneros, 53% of the residents of Puerto Rico completed and returned the federal census by mail, a 2% increase compared to 2000. Census officials competed the collection of this information through house to house visits. In the U.S., the mail delivery rate was 74%, virtually the same percentage of a decade ago.

The 2010 Census data determine redistricting in the United States and the number of seats each state has in the House of Representatives.

Having had an increase of almost three million people, Florida, home to about 725,000 people of Puerto Rican origin, will gain two seats before the 2012 election. This will also represent an increase of votes in the U.S. Electoral College, through which the U.S. President is elected.

New York, home to more than a million Puerto Ricans, will lose two seats in the Federal lower house and two U.S. Electoral College votes.

Most of the states that gained seats and representation in the Electoral College voted in 2008 for Republican John McCain.

A MESSAGE OF CARING AND REQUEST FOR ACCURATE HISTORY AND CLEAR INFORMATION FROM THE PUERTO RICAN COMMUNITY OF EL BARRIO ABOUT THE JULIA DE BURGOS LATINO CULTURAL CENTER

The Forum, , , , , , , ,

Questions prepared by Mary Boncher, psychologist, poet and long-time El Barrio resident. Responses from Marilyn Navarro, long-time El Barrio resident.

QUESTIONS LOOKING FOR ANSWERS: I just read a quote from Daniel Patrick Moynihan in the New Yorker (October 25, 2010 page 81) that seems quite applicable. “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not to his own facts”

Development of the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center
1. Which organizations and individuals were involved in the conception and early planning (1992-1995) for the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center? What roles did they play?

Johnny Colon – Music School, Ecuelecua – Maria Mar, Teatro LaTea, Taller Boricua – Fernando Salicrup, Edwin Marcial – Teatro Puertoriqueño, A Dance group, and another theater group I have to see if I have the name in some of my older files. The board chair was Carmen Vega Rivera the ED of EHTP at the time. The fiscal conduit and often mediator between EDC, the City, and the groups, was AHA. AHA provided space for their board meetings, and an administrative assistant to support the board of directors.

Side Note… someone should find out who houses the records for the Association of Hispanic Arts, while they are no longer in existence they may have kept copies of the board meeting minutes for the JBLCC board. We called the project the JBLCC project.

2. What was the original idea(s) for the Center?

The Julia de Burgos Latino and Cultural Center – JBLCC

It was suppose to be the mecca for the arts in El Barrio. It was suppose to provide a home to arts organizations struggling to find affordable space to teach, perform, and house Latino Arts in East Harlem. It would have a community Theater that the groups would share and also rent out to other arts organizations, gallery space, classrooms for teaching arts, and spaces for lectures and workshops. While the idea was that the center would be a Latino Arts Center, over 75% of the organizations being considered for moving in, and on the board were Puerto Rican organizations with deep roots in the East Harlem community.

3. In what ways were these ideas modified by the process of opening the Center?

4. What were the financial arrangements? What agency or organization owned (15 years ago) and now owns the building? What agency financed the renovations of the building?

It was owned by the city no one agency owned the space. The city would be leasing it to the organizations who were on the founding board. The organizations would pay rent based on the square footage they occupied. The city financed, but I cannot remember what city agency. I want to say DCA and EDC, but my memory does not carry that far back. A general manager would be hired to run the space. EDC and the City would have oversight for some time (amount of time I cannot recall), but eventually the space would become it’s own entity if they maintained compliance and operated well with some supervision from external agencies for a predetermined amount of time. The rent collected had to be enough to pay the mortgage, cover the operational expenses, and create a reserve. This is what determined the cost per square foot. Many of the organizations on the board who were hoping to move into the space could not afford the rent based on this square footage. There were conversations and the then board chair believed that through fundraising, with a good general manager they would be able to sustain, but overall the groups going in would have to agree to pay the square footage cost that was set, as they could not rely on fundraising when they had not even received the keys to the building, or the okay to move in. They had to prove to the overseeing agencies listed in number 5 below that they could sustain the building based on the only income that was guaranteed at the time… rent.

Side note…. You must all remember this was at a time where Cuomo was governor. The arts were not largely supported. Funding to the arts was not strong at all during this time. The fear of the larger institutions involved, overall, was that the groups moving in did not have the financial resources to be able to afford the rent, and that eventually the consortium would falter, because they would not be able to pay the mortgage, build reserve, and cover operations expenses in general.

What agency signed for and has carried the mortgage?
What were the terms of the financing?
How much money was spent? How much money is still owed?

5. What was the role of the following in the conception and launching of the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center?
New York City Cultural Affairs Commission
Economic Development Corporation
Borough President
City Council Representative
District 11 Community Board
Others

Granting Leases for Space in the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center – What happened in 1995?
1. What entity determined which organizations were granted leases?

The organizations on the original board submitted applications with extensive documentation that was reviewed by members of the organizations outlined in question #5 above. They were supported by AHA in preparing their applications. Those organizations that met the criteria established by the those in #5 above were suppose to move in.

2. What was the basis for determination?

3. What were/are the conditions of the leases?

4. In particular, what are the conditions for the leases granted for the multi-purpose space?

5. How was it that two floors in the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center was rented to the Department of Education for a school??

6. What entities oversee the Julia de Burgos, legally and operationally?
What have they done to ensure that the vision for the Center is actualized?
What power do they legally have?
Who has power over them?

7. What specifically is the role and function of the Economic Development Corporation? Who sits on the board of the EDC? How are they elected/appointed and for what term? To whom are they accountable?

8. What is the relationship between the Economic Development Corporation and Community Board 11, our City Council member, other political entities that affect El Barrio? How does it all work and fit together?

Our Council Woman’s Request to the EDC
1. What complaints/criticisms lead our Council Woman to go to the EDC to ask them to discontinue current lease for the multi-purpose space and to put out an RFEI?

2. What if any discussions did our Council Woman have with Taller Boricua about these complaints and possible solutions?

3. What was/is our Council Woman’s assessment of the responsibility of EDC for the conditions she has identified as problematic with the use and utilization of the multi-purpose and theater space at the Julia de Burgos?

Taller Boricua and the Multi-Purpose Space
1. How has the space been used?

2. Who has and who has not had access to using the space?

3. What does the Taller understand as the complaints/criticisms of the use and utilization of the multi-purpose space?

4. What is the Taller’s response to these complaints/criticisms?

Current Issues from a Broader Perspective
1. What is the EDC’s responsibility in relation to the current situation with the Julia de Burgos?

2. What are the long term ramifications of the following statement in the online NYC Procurement Opportunities

This RFEI is not a formal offering for organizations to locate at the Site. However NYCEDC reserves the right to enter into negotiations with the organization(s) on the basis of the responses to the RFEI without engaging in further processes. NYCEDC and the City reserve the right, at their sole discretion, to withdraw the RFEI; to choose to discuss various approaches with one or more respondents (including those not responding to the RFEI), to use the ideas or proposals submitted in any manner deemed to be in the best interest of the NYCEDC and the City, including but not limited to soliciting competitive submission relating to such ideas or proposals; and/or undertake the prescribed work in a manner other than that which is set forth herein. NYCEDC and the City likewise reserve the right, at any time, to change any terms of the RFEI.” (darkened area not in original)

3. What is the potential negative cost to the Puerto Rican community in El Barrio of yet another “in-fight this time between our Council woman and her supporter and the Taller Boricua and its supporters?

4. What options, if any, are there for the community to handle the differences over the Julia de Burgos spaces in a less contentious manner?

5. What if anything have we learned from past battles over institutions in El Barrio and the ensuing loses to the Puerto Rican Community

6. What mistakes were made in those battles/confrontations? What do we need to learn?

7. What does this all have to do with gentrification?

VISIONS
What visions do we have for how to handle differences within El Barrio so that we do not lose what is left of El Barrio for the Puerto Rican Community.

1. What visions are there for how we can work more cooperatively, forge a stronger community, and combat gentrification?

2. What middle forces are available in the community to mediate the current conflict which presents as quite polarized

Side note…. From what I remember there was a general sense even then in 1993 – 1997 when I worked directly with these individuals, that Taller Boricua monopolized the overall process. While perhaps well intentioned in wanting to be a part of such a historic project and wanting to be in the space, other groups felt that their voice was not as prominent in the process as that of those who represented Taller Boricua. What started out as a collective of arts organizations taking part in a historic projected ended sadly. When those doors opened, the only group that went into the space – from the original organizations on the board – was Taller Boricua. My memory may be wrong, and if it is, not more than one or two others from that original board ever went into the space.

Signed,
M. Navarro,
Puerto Rican Resident of El Barrio for 38 years
Born and Raised

10/22/10

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when
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where from
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how is it
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TALLER BORICUA IS HONORED TO PRESENT A NUYORICAN POETRY READING SERIES

Corrientes

 

 

IN ASSOCIATION WITH OUR CURRENT EXHIBITION:

Thursday, December 16th, 6-9pm:
SANDRA MARÍA ESTEVES, JESÚS
PAPOLETO MELÉNDEZ, NANCY
MERCADO & MYRNA NIEVES

Thursday, January 13th, 6-9pm:
CARIDAD DE LA LUZ “LA BRUJA,”
BOBBY GONZALEZ, URAYOÁN
NOEL* & EDWIN TORRES*

* See What I Mean Poetry Reading Series will celebrate two book releases: Urayoán Noel’s “Hi-Density Politics” and Edwin Torres’ “Yes Thing No Thing” as well the second printing of Bobby Gonzalez’s book “The Last Puerto Rican Indian: A Collection of Dangerous Poetry.”

Suggested donation of $5 (not mandatory for entrance)
At the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center:
1680 Lexington Avenue btwn 105/106 Sts, NYC, NY 10029

Light refreshments will be served. For more information visit our website at:
www.tallerboricua.org or email us at contact@tallerboricua.org

Exhibition and poetry series are both made possible with support from The New York State Council
on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone,
Ponce de Leon Federal Bank and individual donations.

EXHIBITION WILL REMAIN OPEN UNTIL 9PM ON POETRY READING NIGHTS:
SEE WHAT I MEAN
Anibal Arroyo, Nicky Enright, Sandra María Esteves, Nicholas Fraser,
Caridad De La Luz “La Bruja,” Soraya Marcano, Joetta Maue, Elsa María
Meléndez, Jesús Papoleto Meléndez, Antonio “Titanium” Montalvo, Christian
“XIAN” Montalvo, Urayoán Noel, Ronny Quevedo, David Quiles, Wilson
Ramos Jr., Oliver Rios, Karen Shaw and Seldon Yuan

Curated by Marcos Dimas and Christine Licata

Exhibition Dates: December 3 – January 15, 2011
Opening: Friday, December 3, 2010 6-9pm
Gallery Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12-6pm, Thursday 1-7pm, Monday and Sunday Closed

Taller Boricua / The Puerto Rican Workshop is a 40-year old artist-run nonprofit art gallery
and multidisciplinary cultural space in El Barrio. Our mission is to be a proactive institution for the
community in East Harlem by offering programs that stimulate its social, cultural and economic
development through the promotion of the arts.

An Open Letter to City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito Concerning the Julia de Burgos Cultural Center

The Forum, , ,

I am writing to you on behalf of my husband, myself, and all our friends who have been attending the Latin dance night at Julia de Burgos Cultural Center. We have been dancing there since the site opened. It’s a wonderful way to preserve the rich history of Latin music and dance, especially since most of us are over 50 and remember Tito Puente, Ray Barretto, Joe Cuba, whose wake we attended, Celia Cruz, Hector Lavoe,and many others.

I can’t think of a better way to promote harmony among people than by congregating at Burgos every Wednesday night. There are dancers from so many varied ethnic and religious backgrounds that it is an excellent representation of multicultural activity. I have never witnessed a harsh word, argument, or altercation in all the years I have dancing there. People come for their love of Latin music and dance. We socialize, talk about old times, eat, drink, take photographs together, and most importantly, share our passion for mambo, cha cha, and merengue. And it is a passion! Every week someone celebrates a birthday with a huge cake, which is offered to friends and acquaintances alike. I celebrated mine on November 17, and I was so happy to have such a spot where camaraderie is at its height.

Unfortunately, you have a reputation of being unsupportive of small business, low-income tenants, and affordable housing, in favor of big business and multinational corporations. I suppose that closing Burgos is in line with your present political leanings and aspirations. If I am wrong about this, please respond to this email. I would like to hear your side.

Sincerely

Jan Mayrick
janmeowon2@aol.com

Seeking art teachers – Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble

Corrientes

Hi Everyone,

Thanks to some wonderful new grants that have come in, we have an opportunity to expand some of our programs into more schools in the West Town/Humboldt Park neighborhood. We are looking for dance and theatre teaching artists to work in k-8th classrooms as well as to lead Wellness (fitness and nutrition/cooking) classes for parents. I’ve included and attached the job description, please feel free to pass it onto anyone you know who maybe interested. The programs will begin in February and March and we are hoping to fill the spots before break on Dec. 22.

Thank you for your help,
Ellyzabeth Adler

Dance and Theatre Teaching Artist Positions Available
(contracts begin February 2011 & are roughly 8-20 sessions, 1 hour in length):
· CDE is currently seeking dance and theatre teaching artists experienced in teaching children grades prek-8th for our residency programs. (see descriptions below under candidates)
o Specific programs include: Books Alive, Cooking Show & Measurements of Movement
· CDE is seeking teaching artists to teach fitness and cooking classes for parents in low-income schools in the West Town neighborhood.
Compensation: rates depend on the program between $25-60 an hour plus prep time
Candidates:
Candidates must have experience teaching, developing curriculum, working with classroom and fellow teaching artists to develop programming. Must have a desire for fun with kids and innovation teaching methods. Background checks required.

Current Teaching Positions:
Residency School Day Programs: we are currently accepting applications for our following programs:
Measurements in Movement This class is designed for all grades to explore choreography movement and mathematical concepts resulting in a structured modern dance. The purpose of this class is to develop an awareness of body, space, tempo and connect the movement to concepts such as symmetry, number, line, parallel, diagonal and fractions.

The Cooking Show The Cooking Show addresses a need for wellness education in our schools through acting exercises, learning new recipes and writing foods reviews. By learning to cook healthy meals, students are also able to demonstrate math skills (ie. how many 1/4 cups are in 1 cup). At the end of the program, the kids will use all their new skills to create a filmed TV show performance that will include a host, judges, student cooking teams and an audience.

Books Alive Theatre Night for Day and After School CDE works with grades K-8 using books, folklore and student poetry to create performances for school, parent or community audiences. All source material is directly tied to current academic curriculum. Our teaching artists work with classroom teachers to decide on themes and stories and create accompanying sets and costumes.

Parent Wellness Fitness and Nutrition Workshops and Classes this is a new program for CDE and will be developing based on classes already taught by Ellyzabeth Adler. The focus is to educate parents in healthy lifestyle choices that include portion size, cooking, and exercising. The exercise classes should incorporate dance, yoga, and Pilates. No need to be certified, just a strong knowledge to make the workouts fun and inspiring to parents who have little to no exercise experience.

Application: please email the following information to Ellyzabeth Adler, Executive Director, Ellyzabeth@danztheatre.org no phone calls please

1. Resume with teaching experience & three references

2. Knowledge of the Illinois State Standards

3. A brief paragraph on how your teaching philosophy fits with ours, your experience & why you love teaching

4. Any curriculum ideas for the school programs you are interested in applying for

5. State whether or not you have a car & availability

Who we are: Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble is a multidisciplinary arts organization that engages and inspires the community through socially conscious performances and outreach programs. We fuse literature, theatre, contemporary dance, theatre, multimedia and visual art into the content of our performances and outreach programming.
Outreach Programs:
Kids Project is a school age outreach program that works to increase awareness of the arts and improve literacy in children of all backgrounds through experiences in visual and performing arts. Similar to the adult performance ensemble, the Kids Project uses literature as a vehicle and introduces students to the fine and performing arts while increasing literacy skills and fostering greater self-esteem.

Teen Artist Project encourages teens to draw upon their experiences to express their own thoughts and ideas through the fine and performing arts. Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble’s outreach program for middle school and high school students, fills a need for arts programming in Chicago schools and community centers through our collaborative spirit and ability to connect with students through our multidisciplinary work.

Teaching Philosophy: CDE uses a process-oriented approach in our classrooms so that we can build upon of each child’s personalities and inherent talents. By giving our students achievable goals, they become more self-confident and we are able to build on those simple goals by making them more complex. Our “Whole-Child” teaching philosophy enables us to help students learn better ways to communicate. By processing emotions and their physical responses, our students gain an understanding of body awareness and become more intuitive to others’ needs. The “Whole-Child” teaching philosophy allows us to create a flexible curriculum incorporating theatre, dance and visual art to meet the needs of our students.

Teaching Objectives:
â—¦ Engage and inspire students by fusing literature, theatre, dance and visual arts.
◦ Build upon each child’s personality and inherent talents.
◦ Strengthen student’s literacy skills, critical thinking and self-esteem.
â—¦ By teaching creatively gets children to fully understand academic concepts

—
Jorge Félix
arts direction – curatorial-exhibition consultant – non-profit administration
phone: (773) 620-8608 e-mail: jorgefelix11@gmail.com
http://www.facebook.com/JorgeFelix11
http://twitter.com/JorgeFelix11
http://artistasdepuertorico.ning.com/profile/JorgeFelix