04/10/2019
Professor Marisol Negron is a founding member of the New England Consortium of Latina/o Studies, which sent an open letter to Yale U. president in support of Dr. Albert Laguna, who was denied tenure, and the faculty and students of the Program in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration. 13 faculty in ER&M have withdrawn their labor from the program.
Letter in support of Dr. Albert Laguna and Yale ER&M faculty and students, from the New England Consortium of Latina/o Studies (NECLS)
April 10, 2019
Dear President Salovey,
On behalf of the New England Consortium of Latina/o Studies (NECLS) we are writing in support of our colleague Dr. Albert Laguna, as well as our colleagues in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration and the program’s 87 majors. NECLS brings together Latinx faculty from over twenty New England and Northeast academic institutions who are conducting critical interdisciplinary work that expands the traditional boundaries of Latina/o studies. Dr. Laguna is an important member of our consortium and a notable scholar in the field of Latina/o Studies. We are deeply troubled by what has occurred at Yale with both Dr. Laguna and our colleagues in ER&M, especially given the important contributions these scholars have made in American Studies, Latina/o Studies, Ethnic Studies, Area Studies, Women & Gender Studies, as well as conventional Humanities and Social Science disciplines such as History, Literary and Cultural Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, and Political Science.
Dr. Albert Laguna’s book, Diversión: Play and Popular Culture in Cuban America, offers a significant contribution to Cuban, Latina/o, Caribbean, Latin American, and American Studies. As of this writing, his book has won the Peter C. Rollins Book Prize from the Northeast Popular/American Culture Association and the Robert K. Martin Prize for Best Book from the Canadian Association for American Studies. The book’s focus on Cuban ludic sociability and its articulation in popular culture and mass media broadens the field of knowledge in the aforementioned disciplines. In particular, Laguna analyzes how humor, play, and comedic forms of expression have always been, and continue to be, at the core of the history and experience of the Cuban diaspora in the United States. Furthermore, this book dismantles the ideological blockade that has long separated Cuban American and Cuban forms of ludic cultural production in stand-up comedy, morning radio, and both material and digital cultures.
Dr. Laguna’s scholarship extends the horizon of ethnic and migration studies by examining the transnational flows of capital, material goods, and people that have characterized the most recent waves of Cuban diaspora to the United States. Rather than focus on migration as uni-directional, Laguna underscores the economic, cultural, and social remittances that move in reverse from the Cuban American enclaves in the United States to the island. His work undertakes an impressive breadth in its analysis of literature, stand-up comedy, morning radio shows, Cuban nostalgia expos, digital media, and online social networks. Dr. Laguna conducted his ethnography in Cuba, South Florida, and New Jersey. Much of the analysis is based on participant observation, interviews, and informal surveys, which demonstrates the multi-sited, mixed-methods, and interdisciplinary range of Dr. Laguna’s timely intervention into Cuban American Studies. By all measures, Dr. Laguna’s scholarship is a game changer that extends the horizon of American, Latina/o, Ethnic, and Area Studies through its range of subjects: the complexity of its analysis, its diverse interdisciplinary approaches, and its innovative scholarly voice that performs the very ludic sensibility it researches and critiques. Its deep analysis of ludic sociability reaches far beyond the discursive community at the center of his study. Many of us teach Dr. Laguna’s book and also draw on his scholarship in our own research. Dr. Laguna’s scholarship will remain relevant for years to come and serves as an essential contribution to the study of humor and its role in ethnic identity formation.
Dr. Laguna presented his book project when it was at the mid-stages of development at one of our NECLS symposiums and the faculty were deeply impressed with its depth and analytical insights of Cuban popular culture and its presence within the digital sphere. Dr. Laguna is a consistent and vital member of NECLS, a beloved participant who always brings a generous spirit, collegial approach, and rigorous understanding of the work that is presented at our bi-annual gatherings. He is the kind of colleague that all of us desire to have within our institutions because he is a scholar who also takes seriously the importance of mutual mentoring and the commitment to not only academic excellence but also broadening access to institutions of higher education across Latinx and underrepresented communities. Dr. Laguna’s work in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration reinforced these efforts and created an academic home for him in which his scholarly impact could be felt across multiple disciplines within, and beyond, the United States.
Relatedly, we also write in support of our colleagues in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration and their decision to withdraw their labor from the program in response to the University’s repeated failure to live up to its commitments to the under-resourced program. Yale has relied on the labor of scholars with full-time appointments in other departments for two decades, even as these same faculty have been prevented from participating in the process of tenure and promotion in ER&M. That these scholars are primarily faculty of color who are often over-taxed by commitments across the University to diversity-related efforts, and that faculty of color continue to be under-represented in the upper administration is deeply disappointing given the initiative announced by Yale in 2015 to increase faculty diversity. Moreover, despite President Peter Salovey and Provost Ben P***k’s assertion that “Yale’s education and research missions are propelled forward by a faculty that stands at the forefront of scholarship, research, practice, mentoring, and teaching,” there has been a lack of transparency with regards to the disbursement of the $50 million Yale committed to the initiative.
The structural problems faced by ER&M are exacerbated by the University’s failure to provide meaningful support to the program, in the form of tenured faculty and professional leadership, or follow through on its promise to change the ER&M’s status and funding. The recent senior hires are not sufficient to address the growing needs of ER&M or resolve the University’s overwhelming dependence on the volunteer labor of faculty for leadership, advising, and other areas of program development. Our support thus extends to Yale students, particularly the 87 majors in ER&M, who are entitled to the resources necessary to support their intellectual development and yet lack a full program of courses in ER&M as a result of Yale’s failures.
As a leader in the comparative study of race and ethnicity, we urge Yale to consider what the University stands to lose should the decision on Dr. Laguna’s tenure case be allowed to stand, and how such a decision might reverberate through the academy. We likewise enjoin Yale to fulfill its commitments to ER&M and fully fund the program, put into place the promised structural changes, and recognize the right of faculty to participate in hiring as well as tenure and promotion processes.
The Executive Committee and Members of the New England Consortium of Latina/o Studies
NECLS Executive Committee (2018-2019)
Marisol Negrón, Assistant Professor with Tenure of American Studies and Latino Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston
Renee Hudson, Assistant Professor of English, University of Massachusetts Boston
Irene Mata, Barbara Morris Caspersen Associate Professor of Humanities and Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, Wellesley College
Petra Rivera-Rideau, Assistant Professor of American Studies, Wellesley College
David Hernández, Associate Professor of Latina/o Studies, Mount Holyoke College
Vanessa Rosa, Assistant Professor of Latina/o Studies, Mount Holyoke College
Alberto Sandoval Sánchez, Professor Emeritus of Spanish, Mount Holyoke College
Carlos Alamo, Associate Professor of Sociology, Vassar College
Hiram Pérez, Associate Professor of English, Vassar College
NECLS Members
Leticia Alvarado, Assistant Professor American Studies and Ethnic Studies, Brown University
Emma Amador, Assistant Professor of History and Latina/o, Caribbean, and Latin American Studies, University of Connecticut, Storrs
Ginetta EB Candelario, Professor of Sociology and Latin American & Latina/o Studies, Smith College; Editor, Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism
Julio Capó, Jr., Associate Professor of History, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Yale University Postdoctoral Associate in ER&M and American Studies, 2011-2012
Mari Castañeda, Associate Dean for Equity and Inclusion, SBS, and Professor in the Department of Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst
C. Ondine Chavoya, Professor of Art History and Latina/o Studies, Williams College
Tatiana M.F. Cruz, Assistant Professor of American History, Lesley University
Solsiree del Moral, Associate Professor of American Studies and Black Studies, Amherst College
Wilson Valentín Escobar, Chair of the Five College Latin American, Caribbean, and Latin@ Studies Program and Associate Professor of Sociology and American Studies, Hampshire College
Kevin Escudero, Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies, Brown University; Yale Law School ‘15
Irene Garza, Cassius M. Clay Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of History, Yale University; Yale University Alumnae, B.A. 2002, ER&M major
Maia Gil’Adí, Assistant Professor of English, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Óscar F. Gil-García, Assistant Professor, Department of Human Development, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Yolanda Flores, Associate Professor of Romance Languages, University of Vermont
Teresa Irene Gonzales, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Jacqueline M. Hidalgo, Associate Professor of Latina/o Studies and Religion, Williams College
Jacqueline Lyon, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Bates College
Airín D. Martínez, Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health & Health Policy, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Vanessa E. Martínez Renuncio, Professor of Anthropology and Honors Program Coordinator, Holyoke Community College
Jennifer Matos, Visiting Faculty in Psychology and Education, Mount Holyoke College
Orquidea Morales, Cesar Chavez Postdoctoral Fellow, Dartmouth College
Rosalyn Negrón, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts Boston
Priscilla Page, Senior Lecturer in Theater, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Kimberlee Pérez, Assistant Professor of Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Daisy Verduzco Reyes, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Connecticut
Israel Reyes, Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, Dartmouth College
Lorna Rivera, Director of the Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy and Associate Professor of Latino Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston
Bernardo Ramirez Rios, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Skidmore College
Paul Schroeder Rodríguez, Chair and Professor of Spanish, Amherst College
Mérida M. Rúa, Chair of Latina and Latino Studies, and Professor of Latina and Latino Studies & American Studies, Williams College
Jennifer Domino Rudolph, Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies, Connecticut College
Eréndira Rueda, Associate Professor of Sociology and Latin American & Latinx Studies, Vassar College
Cristina Serna, Assistant Professor, Women’s Studies, Colgate University
Silvia Spitta, Robert E. Maxwell 1923 Professor of Arts and Science; Chair and Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, Dartmouth College
Stacy Torres, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of California, San Francisco
Karol Gil Vasquez, Keith T. Anderson Assistant Professor of Economics and Finance, Nichols College
Carmen Whalen, Carl W. Vogt ‘58 Professor of History and of Latina and Latino Studies, Williams College
Cc: Ben P***k, Provost
Charles W. Goodyear IV, President of the Board of Trustees
Matthew Jacobson, Chair of American Studies, William Robertson Coe Professor of American Studies and History, and Professor of African American Studies
Alicia Schmidt Camacho, Professor of American Studies
Daniel Martinez HoSang, Associate Professor of American Studies
Letter in support of Dr. Albert Laguna and Yale ER&M faculty and students, from the New England Consortium of Latina/o Studies (NECLS) April 10, 2019 Dear President Salovey, On behalf of the New England Consortium of Latina/o Studies (NECLS) we are writing in support of our colleague Dr. Alber...
