What a touching day today at the Latinx graduation that had to get pulled together in 6 weeks because Senate Bill 17 made cuts to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that resulted in the cancellation of our students' graduation ceremony.  SB 17 is part of a larger scorched earth policy agenda that is very racist and fearful of a browning America. All should read mine and Dr. Zamora’s piece on the matter: Zamora, E. & Valenzuela, A. (2023, Feb. 13). "Anti-DEI Law Implementation Has Been a Disaster," Texas Observer. For the record, there's nothing to fear and everything to gain. T ..read more

 I am SO proud of our students and LULAC, our largest and oldest civil rights group in the Mexican community. Thanks, as well, to journalist Suzanne Gamboa for giving this very important story some ink. My husband and I plan on attending the graduation, greeting the students as they walk across the stage. We couldn't be more honored.  When Latinx graduation was canceled (read Zamora & Valenzuela, 2024, on UT's disastrous implementation of Senate Bill 17), this took me back to a memory from my high school years growing up in West Texas in San Angelo, not far from Austin. I'm not s ..read more

Important read by UT History professor Dr. Peniel E. Joseph. I couldn't agree more. What's happening in Texas right now is most definitely an assault. It's Texas manifesting the intent of the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 about which I just posted. If you want to ruin your day, just keyword the words, "abolish" and "eliminate" to learn of their explicit intent of a "scorched earth" administration should Donald Trump get elected. These are not my words, but their words as you can also see from this recent April 19, 2024 New York Times article by  Jonathan Cha ..read more

Friends, WE CANNOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, LET TRUMP WIN. We must get the word out on this extremist "planned coup" laid out in Project 2025 in anticipation of a Trump presidency.  It's being spearheaded by The Heritage Foundation and their large network of neoliberal and authoritarian populist supporters. It is over 900 pages long. Just keyword-search the words "abolish" and "eliminate" to get a sense of just how scorched earth their agenda is. Do watch the whole video with Velshi on MSNBC (posted below).  For ease, here is a partial transcript of Velsh ..read more

Friends, April has been a busy travel month. I'll soon post on what's happening right now with the protests at UT Austin. I've definitely kept up throughout. In the meantime, this is a must-listen to podcast that's illuminating of how people in power are able to carry out their agenda even when the science doesn't back them up.  For our friends from Houston that experienced the takeover of their district last year, this will definitely resonate. So terribly concerning. -Angela Valenzuela  “Welcome to Unraveling Education, the podcast that's part storytelling, part information and par ..read more

Friends, View here. So happy to share this Instagram video by youth organization, Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) headed by Cameron Samuels and his outstanding team...Da'Taeveyon Daniels, Christianna, Angel Huang, Haydn, and the rest of them who came from as far as El Paso and Beaumont.  Specifically, I highlight here Saturday evening's anti-book-banning event at Book People this weekend here in Austin, Texas. It was livestreamed on Instagram. You can view the video here.  It was awesome hanging out with Children's Defense Fund Texas Program ..read more

  Friends, Happy to share this podcast Interview that took place during the pandemic on Ethnic Studies, CRT, and where we should be headed in education with Dr. Abdín Noboa-Rios and Dr. Tony Baez. You can link directly to this interview below or view it here on Youtube. I listened to it recently and happened to like my responses to Drs. Noboa-Rios and Baez' questions.  As I think about Ethnic Studies and Critical Race Theory (CRT), my biggest concern is not solely with the mischaracterizations but also with the anti-intellectual agenda of not wanting to know minoritized or s ..read more

Ok, so were UT cuts more aimed at gaining politicians' trust more than SB17 compliance? That's what's suggested here. An obvious question that lots of folks are asking is where is this freed-up money going to go? Ideally, it would go back to student services and staff that work with those students instead of to "teaching and research," as Hartzell has expressed (see April 2, 2024, Hartzel letter posted to this blog).  Geez, there is no university without students or the staff that serve them. Faculty and Teaching Assistants cannot assume this onerous responsibility. There are professiona ..read more

 Friends, As you can view for yourselves here, I am very pleased to announce that my blog is ranked number 5 among the top education blogs in Texas. Glad I checked. When I shared this yesterday with my students, one of them expressed, "You got flex!" Cool, so "I got flex"—a new expression for me. This blog got going 20 years ago. Before that, I ran a listserv for 7 years. If you want to know why I blog, I invite you to read this Nov. 10, 2021 message titled, "A Personal Message on Why I Blog and a Word of Thanks by Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D." Although I don't—and have n ..read more

 Friends, I'm thrilled to announce that Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) is here in Austin, Texas on Friday, April 20, and Sunday, April 21st to demand a seat at the table in decisions that directly affect them. I know there are a lot of great things happening among our youth in Texas, but this is tops! Plus, it makes enormous sense to me for young people to be accomplish this via a focus on policy. Long overdue. Follow and friend them on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/studentsengagedtx/ Saturday, April 20, 2024— "Building Bridges Amid Book Bans," at BookPeop ..read more