Chicano Student Groups To Confer On Higher Ed.

Chicano students from Eastern colleges plan to gather for a student forum on higher education issues for Mexican-Americans at Columbia University on October 3 and 4.

Proposed topics include immigration issues, the recruitment of Mexican-American students to East coast colleges and the need to keep them on campus.

Twenty-six members of Raza, a Harvard support group for Mexican-Americans, plan to attend the conference. Raza became involved in the forum only last year. But at this meeting, Harvard students are expected to comprise about one-third of the conference which will include representatives from all Ivy League schools.

"A lot of Chicano students come out to the East coast and find it difficult to assimilate," said Raza member Carlos Perez '91. "At Harvard, Raza offers moral support, but there needs to be more Hispanic leadership on Eastern campuses. That is something that the forum will encourage."

Chicano students often miss family life, said Sylvia Torres '88, one of Raza's five presidents.

To make students feel more at home, Raza sponsors a big brother/big sister program and a weekly table at Adams House. "The table is not just for Mexican-Americans, but also for friends and roommates," said Torres.

The conference's organizers do not plan to discuss the arrest this summer of Jose Razo '89, a Mexican-American Harvard student who is now facing 15 counts of armed robbery in his native town of La Habra, California, Torres said.

"It's not fair to say that [Razo] represents Mexican-Americans," said Torres, who said the East Los Angeles football player had participated in a few Raza activities.