Campus battlegrounds: Puerto Rican student activism in higher education and community leadership in Chicago, 1970-1985

Velez, Angel L.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/113053 Copy

Description

Title

Campus battlegrounds: Puerto Rican student activism in higher education and community leadership in Chicago, 1970-1985

Author(s)

Velez, Angel L.

Issue Date

2021-07-16

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

• Anderson, James D.
• Pak, Yoon

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Anderson, James D.

Committee Member(s)

• Zamani-Gallaher, Eboni M.
• Welton, Anjale

Department of Study

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Puerto Rican history
• student activism
• higher education
• community leadership

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the Puerto Rican student struggle in Chicago’s higher education from 1970 to 1985. Throughout this period, Puerto Rican student activists fought to transform a racist higher education system. I argue that higher education served as a training battleground where Puerto Rican student activists could systematize and articulate community knowledge to address educational, political, and community concerns. Drawing on thirteen semi-structured interviews and extensive archival records, Campus Battlegrounds analyzes the interlink between community struggle, student activism, and political leadership. The findings suggest that Puerto Rican student activists, informed by community leaders, demanded change in higher education. After college, Puerto Rican student activists utilized their knowledge alongside a college credential to struggle for political representation and resources for the Puerto Rican community in Chicago. This dissertation adds important directions to the study of student activism, particularly the linkage between community struggles and radical student activism. It also inserts Puerto Rican student activism into the broader literature of student activism. In the end, I argue that the Puerto Rican campus-based movement, due to their connections to Puerto Rican community activists, benefited from their leadership, thus providing Puerto Rican student activists with a great source of stability and longevity that continues today.

Graduation Semester

2021-08

Type of Resource

Thesis

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/113053

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2021 Angel Luis Velez Rodriguez

Owning Collections