Hispanic Program

NEW HAVEN, Conn.--Yale University recently inaugurated Chicano/Boricua Studies, a new Concentration in the American Studies major, making it the first such program in the Ivy League.

The new concentration, which involves study of Hispanic heritage requires students to take eight interdisciplinary courses cross referenced with the American Studies major, including some from the history. Spanish, history of art, and sociology departments.

Students from Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan a campus Chicano group, and Despierta Boricua (DB), Yales's Puerto Rican group, initially proposed the concentration.

Last spring, Dan Ramirez '83 and Isabel Zambrano '85, co-chairman of the MEChA Course and Faculty Committee, spoke to the chairmen of each of the departments that offered courses pertinent to Chicano-Boricua studies and obtained permission to cross reference the courses with American Studies.

By the time they approached Yale College Dean Howard Lamar, the students had worked out all the details and Lamar just had "to smile and give approval," said Lamar, the Yale Daily News reported recently.