While there are many issues that a university president has to constantly address, we were disheartened to read your belief that part of the issues which have stymied progress in AAAS and the Chicano/Latino Studies program are “related to leadership."

Having worked with the last two CLS directors, our small cohort in CLS can attest that leadership has not been a barrier for any type of university progress that MSU would have invested in the CLS program.

We strongly believe that any form of progressive or increased support of CLS (financially, academically, etc.) would have been welcomed. We stress this issues because, like #LiberateMSU, CLS graduate students have brought issues regarding funding, faculty lines and department status over the past three years to your office, the deans' offices and to various affiliated colleges at MSU.

CLS graduate students have been making this request for at least a decade if not more. The choice not to progress programs like CLS has not been due to leadership from within our program but the lack of leadership from your administration. More specifically, Pam Gray who is charged with the responsibility for the over all financial management of the College of Social Science, has played a game of attrition with our program. This is where the leadership that needs to change.

We have yet to see a long-range strategic plan from her end on what Chicano/Latino Studies at Michigan State University will look like for future Spartans. On another note, your comment regarding the need “to recruit more diverse faculty not simply just in AAAS and CLS, but across the university” was rather shocking considering that, to date, CLS does not have a single faculty member with a 50 percent appointment or higher (outside of the director).

Moreover, many faculty members who choose to give up their time, intellectual energy, and resources often do so as affiliated faculty working alongside, but not within CLS while also maintaining rigorous R1 departmental expectations. So, perhaps before we hire faculty across the university you, the board and deans will consider our needs for faculty member for the CLS program. Without this basic need, we believe you are setting this program and its students for failure. We will continue to collectively build our efforts for full Department Status as our current state is underfunded, marginalized and given minuscule attention from your administration.

Attentive Regards,

Chicano/Latino Studies doctoral students Christian Ramirez, Samuel Saldivar, Erin Alvarez, José Martinez