University of Nebraska Lincoln

University of Nebraska Lincoln College of Arts and Sciences Office of the Dean 1223 Oldfather Hall P.O. Box 880312 Lincoln, NE 68588-0312 Telephone (402) 472-2891 March 18 # 1993 TO: FROM: RE: MCLR Board of Directors Editorial Committee (Miguel Carranza, Rudy Garcia and Rey Contreras) Editorial Policy The Editorial Committee was charged with the responsibility of recommending to the MCLR Board a policy to guide the publication activities of the Consortium. To this end the following proposal is presented to the Board for consideration. University of Nebraska-Lincoln University of Nebraska Medical Center University of Nebraska at Omaha University of Nebraska at Kearney

EDITORIAL POLICY PROPOSAL ISSUES There are a number of important issues facing Latino scholarship. These issues have been arranged into the following categories: 3. 4. 5. 6. promoting professional and personal development; developing a Latino research agenda; visibility; institutional support; collaboration; and, community expectations. Promoting Professional and Personal Development - The institutional capacity to do Latino scholarship is a crucial issue for having a critical mass of faculty and students who are welltrained in research methods and skilled in addressing Latino issues. Too few institutions of higher education have this kind of institutional capacity. But, the MCLR can make a firm commitment to develop it. In addition to recruiting and maintaining Latino faculty and students who can lead a serious Latino research agenda, such a commitment can entail legitimating Latino research and Latino studies as a field of inquiry (since academe views it as suspect, especially if conducted by a Latino researcher). Because academe does not consider Latino research to be legitimate, and because "it is difficult to consider Latino research to be legitimate, and because "it is difficult to publish it in established journals," the risk of pursuing Latino research is great, especially for younger faculty seeking tenure and graduate students seeking jobs. But that attitude can change if the university actively promotes Latino research endeavors. The MCLR can make Latino research attractive in several ways, for example, by providing intellectual and financial support; by institutionalizing and rewarding the role of senior faculty as advocates and mentors to junior faculty and students trying to pursue Latino scholarship; by showcasing the few faculty and students involved in Latino research; and by "encouraging university presses to publish work by and about Latinos. Developing a Latino Research Agenda - In the past decade-"to the detriment of us all" the Latino research agenda has suffered a severe backlash. The headway made in the 60s and 70s was undermined in the 80s. Today Latino research and Latino researchers continue to be ghettoized. And the research agenda which "could shape and define Latino scholarship and attract students and faculty" is still an elusive thing. Latino research is still not considered a legitimate or prestigious endeavor; it's "not acknowledged or sanctioned" as a valid enterprise, partly "because there's a lack of sympathetic appraisers of non-traditional research topics and modes." Researchers are also marginalized, especially the Latino researchers. A non-latino doing Latino research is more accepted than the Latino: a Latino doing research is suspect, viewed as too subjective, ethnocentric and incapable of becoming part of the mainstream. Latino researchers are further discouraged because the scarce research available is "seldom applied in terms of actually using it to address Latino problems," and because "funding and programs are usually short-lived-it's a government contract here or a special planning strategy or grant there, but rarely is there longevity." Faculty "don't rise in the academic ladder as scholars of Latino studies." Often, the pressure to publish for tenure and promotion steers Latino faculty away from Latino research and "funnels them into conventional topics and traditional paradigms." When it's Latino, neither the research nor the researcher is rewarded.

3. Visibility. Latino scholarship is not highly visible on either a national level or here at the campus level. There is very little exposure in established journals and the few specialized journals that publish Latino scholarship are viewed as suspect. A few established and respected publishers (for example, Bilingual Press and Arte Publico Press) have developed book series on Latino Studies or published monographs and ethnologies. But there just aren't enough of those publishers. There are few networks of communication that publicize what research is being done or that supports aspiring Latino scholars. Consequently, Latinos and Latino scholarship get little recognition. Latinos "are still seen as the sleeping giant an invisible group without the clout to create their own research agenda." 4. Institutional Support - Stated simply, there just "aren't enough funds allocated to Latino scholarship endeavors nor to the coordination of Latino scholarship publication activities. Faculty need time and support to develop and carry out Latino publishing and dissemination activities. Support means "guiding faculty through the process of developing a research program, directing them to sources of funding and publication, and providing stimulating, intellectual and sometimes emotional support." All universities, and particularly research universities, have an obligation to lead the development of new domains of scholarship. If universities are to contribute to the growth of American society, their research must include Latino research. That means there has to be sustained, cumulative, long-term research resources made available to enterprises such as Latino scholarship. 5. Collaboration - Within universities we don't have enough collaboration. Faculty usually do Latino research on an individual basis, isolated from an interested community. There is rarely a forum or mode for them to showcase their research. Rooted in the issue is the lack of communication among disciplines. The MCLR could alleviate this situation "by encouraging more collaboration across institutional and disciplinary boundaries, and by providing greater visibility so that Latino scholarship can be viewed as being worthy of pursuing. 6. Community Expectations - Latino scholarship is affected by the very real fact that Latino faculty are pulled by the demands of their ethnic community, academe and society in general. The lack of institutional support and validation and the communities' demands often lead Latino faculty to sever ethnic ties. Breaking those ties and being co-opted often comes as part of the socialization process and the long history of ingrained undermining. In universities where Latinos feel isolated and cut off it is easier to become distant from your original community and to sometimes become blind and insensitive to Latino identity. NEED The American Council on Education's 1990 Ninth Annual Status Report on Minorities in Higher Education asserts that Latinos are one of the fastest growing groups in the United States, particularly in the Midwest; and they are characterized by a substantially younger age distribution than the general population. These two factors indicate that Latinos will become a larger part of the work force in the near future. Latinos will make a significant impact on the economic, political and cultural dimensions of our society and university. Thus, it is advantageous for the university to rise to the challenge of demographic change and prepare to meet the needs of its inevitable new wave of students by helping to produce a critical mass of well-prepared Latinos commensurate with current and projected population

growth. As more Latino scholars are recruited into universities they heed to be supported in developing knowledge production and dissemination skills and provided opportunities to practice these skills. Moreover, as Latino community issues become more salient in the public policy arena, policy makers will need assistance in addressing these issues. Thus, Latino scholarship currently being produced is minimal. What is being produced is not being adequately disseminated to interested publics and social agencies. RECOMMENDED POLICY To address the issues and related need the following policy is recommended: To enhance and support Latino scholarship and to sensitize social policy processes to Latino concerns, the MCLR will establish a network of expertise and modes of providing advice, consultation, and continuous comment on public issues by enhancing and conserving the highest degrees of excellence in self development and achievement in knowledge production and dissemination so as to build institutional and public support for Latino concerns. IMPLEMENTATION OF POLICY The Editorial Committee recommends that the MCLR establish a program of activities that will accomplish the following objectives in implementing the recommended policy: To share and disseminate ideas useful and necessary to shaping social policy choices or to define social programs and ultimately help shape the boundaries of social policy debates having an impact on the welfare of Latino communities; and, To help officials frame social policy choices, articulate reasons for particular choices by organizing knowledge into various forms of information, and put forth this information into public service for the benefit of Latino communities. It is further recommended that a Board of Editors be established by the MCLR Board of Directors to direct the development, implementation, and supervision of a program of publication activities. The Board of Editors will develop publishing activités including the following: Scholarly Writing Institutes for developing in participants skills in various forms of publication (e.g. journal articles, monographs, books); Social Issue Series for applying Latino research to particular salient social issues (e.g. Gay/lesbian rights, leadership diversity, labor force of the future); 3. Monograph Series for collaborative writing by Latino scholars engaged in the same or similar research topics;

4. Annual Review of latino Research for compiling annually the most significant Latino scholarship produced in the given year as an annual volume of a book series. A CONSIDERATION It is important to distinguish publication activities from public relations activities of the MCLR. In this regard the Editorial Committee recommends that the public relations program of the Consortium be defined as follows: Goal: Strategy: Objectives: MCLR Public Relations Program To build institutional and public support. Interaction with and involvement of MCLR internal and external publics. Promote a positive and challenging climate in which professional growth and institutional development is fostered. Encourage maximum involvement of students, faculty, and institutional representatives in MCRL initiatives. 3. Build a public knowledge of the purposes, successes and needs of the MCLR leading to public understanding and support. 4. Involve communities in cooperative partnerships and other means to make full use of MCLR resources in the community. As suggested in the preceding, the two primary purposes of a MCLR public relations program will be to foster student and faculty growth and achievement (through establishment of a positive, institutional climate and institutional and community involvement) and to build public knowledge and understanding leading to financial support. To gain support for the MCLR, the MCLR administrative staff will need to adopt marketing techniques and ideas aimed at building public confidence and to keep the MCLR visible to its many present and future publics. Establishing Relations with Publics: Internal Publics Internal communications are vital to a comprehensive public relations program. Internal publics, primarily member students, faculty, and institutions, may want to see themselves in roles that call for more active involvement in the planning of MCLR activities along with their professional and personal welfare. As the MCLR begins to establish relationships with affiliated institutions, internal

communications will become increasingly a necessary part of a good public relations program. Establishing effective communications with internal publics of the MCLR will be necessary for several reasons. First, to establish public support for the MCLR an effective external communications program must be built on a good base of internal communications between MCLR membership and staff. Second, constructive ideas will be suggested by MCLR membership and staff because someone will be there to listen and inform others. Third, human needs, such as recognition and sense of belonging, will be met, thus enhancing MCLR membership involvement. External Publics In communicating with external publics in some organized way the MCLR will enhance their chances of gaining public support, minimizing criticism, learning the priorities of various institutions and communities and receiving functional ideas that will help the MCLR in pursuing established goals. Communities with external publics should encompass both one-way and two-way communication. This may include not only a newsletter, news releases, radio and television programs, and brochues but also person-to-person programs to inform external publics about what is taking place in the MCLR and to help external publics understand the mission of the MCLR. Public Relations Strategies: A. Oral Presentations: One of the better ways of establishing public support and establishing confidence in the MCLR will be face-to-face communication between MCLR members and various internal and external publics through a variety of public forums. B. The Press: The press has an important role in public relations. Newspapers are a primary source of information in the community. Thus, it is an important means to communicate to many people in the general community about MCLR initiatives. C. Radio and Television: Most local radio and television stations like to consider themselves community-minded. This suggests that the MCLR should use the stations as a means to disseminate information to the publics throughout the Midwest. D. Computer Networks: With the growth of computer technology for enhancing two-way communication over-time and over-distance amongst two or more individuals/groups/agencies/institutions. The MCLR will use computer networking for enhancing relations with its internal publics who are widely dispersed geographically in addition to communicating with national and regional external publics. E. Printed Materials: Informative and attractive publications are effective for conveying information to particular publics. The MCLR will use these materials to give specific and detailed attention to many of its internal publics as well as the general community about particular ideas or initiatives (e.g. MCLR Newsletter).