Ángel Hinojoza Gandara, who grew up in east Fort Worth, has been playing in mariachi bands for years. When he started school at UT Arlington, he co-founded a new campus band: Mariachi Los Jinetes.
He loves mariachi for its ability to draw joy and sadness out of people, Hinojoza Gandara said.
“Just seeing how emotional the audience gets with the music that we play, I think it's very awesome, very special and something that you don’t really see in music, not nowadays,” he said.
Hinojoza Gandara hadn’t heard of UTA’s Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS) when he first started at UTA. When Los Jinetes needed an advisor, an employee at the center stepped up, and now Los Jinetes plays gigs for CMAS every semester, he said. Hinojoza Gandara also got a job at CMAS related to his major, working as a graphic designer.
CMAS was founded 30 years ago this year to do exactly what it did for Mariachi Los Jinetes: Support Mexican American and Latino students at UTA.
As of May, 36% of undergraduate students at UTA identified as Latino, according to the university. CMAS tries to make sure those students’ experiences and needs are reflected by what the university offers, CMAS director and political science professor Xavier Medina Vidal said.
"I think it's important that that there are spaces and faculty that students can identify with. That's a big part of being in college,” he said.
The Texas Legislature authorized the creation of CMAS in 1993, thanks to the efforts of former Democratic State Rep. Roberto Alonzo of Dallas.
Through the center, students can pursue a minor in Mexican American and Latino Studies, which includes classes on Mexican American and Latino literature, history and politics. There are scholarships for students and funding for faculty members “studying anything to do with Latinos,” Medina Vidal said.
CMAS also puts together events for the UTA community, like career workshops and speaker series, including events in Spanish.
Next semester, Medina Vidal is planning a CMAS trip to Mexico, he said.
“I'm going to take a group of students who have never been to Mexico, or who have been only to the smallest village from where their parents are from, and I'm going to take them to Mexico City and get them to see and experience one of the greatest cities, one of the greatest civilizations in the world, together as a group,” he said.
Through his work at CMAS, Hinojoza Gandara said he has made lots of connections, his formal Spanish has gotten better, and he feels more connected to his culture. In the future, he'd love for CMAS to grow, he said.
"I'd like CMAS to become a hub for all the clubs and student organizations, and faculty clubs as well, that are focused around the Latinx community," he said.
Medina Vidal has a similar goal. CMAS’ current home is on the outskirts of UTA’s campus, and he wants a more central location, he said.
"Even just getting students to know that we exist can be a challenge at such a big university,” he said.
The Tarrant County Commissioners Court recently adopted a proclamation congratulating CMAS on 30 years, which Medina Vidal calls “a tremendous honor.”
He’s now looking to his students to guide what CMAS will look like in the next 30 years.
Mexican American studies programs only exist because students demanded them decades ago, he said. In a recent class, he asked his students to look at old Chicano Movement manifestos from the 1960s and 70s, and to come up with their own ideas.
"What is your plan?” Medina Vidal asked his students. “What are your what are your interests? What are your demands? What is missing? What do you still need?”
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