Cultures will come together and Bruin-produced cinema will reach
out into Latin America as a result of an agreement signed between
UCLA and the University of Veracruz, Mexico.
The international agreement, sponsored for UCLA by the Chicano
Studies Research Center, establishes an exchange of research,
faculty and students between the two universities.
“I hope this will be the beginning of a partnership
between UCLA and the University of Veracruz,” said Chon
Noriega, director of the center.
Arturo White, president of the University of Veracruz
Foundation, signed the agreement on behalf of the southern
Mexico-based institution.
Early goals for the agreement include the development of
collaborative research projects, the exchange of research and
teaching personnel, and the exchange of graduate students.
One of the first points of emphasis in the new alliance will
focus on Chicano/a ““ denoting Mexican American ““
cinema, which is becoming increasingly popular in Mexico, said
Felicidad Góngora Berlin, assistant director of cultural
affairs for the University of Veracruz.
Berlin said some projects in the works include hosting a
Chicano/a film festival that will tour throughout Mexico, with UCLA
theater professor Jose Luis Valenzuela’s directorial effort
“Luminarias” among the planned headliners.
Also, the University of Veracruz plans to work with UCLA
graduate student programs in the arts and humanities.
Noriega hopes the new partnership will serve as a
“springboard” to establish a UC-wide institute in
United States and Mexico studies.
The University of Veracruz has a student population of 48,000,
distributed between campuses in 14 cities along southern Mexico. It
recently became autonomous after being state-controlled, but
remains a public university.
Public education in Mexico is free, White said, with 30 percent
of students coming from homes with monthly incomes under $200 and
60 percent from homes with monthly incomes under $400.
By providing free education and partnering itself with UCLA,
White said he wants to start breaking down the north-south economic
disparity in Mexico, affecting both education and its image to the
rest of the world.
Because the country’s northern region is what most people
are exposed to commercially, “we often don’t recognize
the rest of Mexico,” said Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, vice
chancellor of the graduate division and a co-sponsor of the
agreement.