Purpose: CUSLB students and faculty, community leaders and educators propose to host a one-day conference to commemorate the 35th Anniversary of the East L.A. High School Walkouts, and to address the most critical educational issues facing the Chicano/Latino community in the 21st Century.

Objectives: The conference is intended to celebrate this important milestone and to share the personal experience of many of the protagonists of the 1968 "Blowouts", with college and high school students, faculty and community activists in attendance. The conference will seek to accomplish the following objectives:

• Recognize and honor for their leadership and sacrifice, Sal Castro and the ELA 13, the HS Student Leaders of the Walkouts and the Parents that supported the movement to bring about educational reform in Los Angeles schools.

• Commemorate the ELA Walkouts, as an educational reform movement that brought about Billingual Education, the end to the practice of corporal punishment, increased hiring of Mexican-American teachers and staff, and the impetus for Chicano Studies classes and programs at many colleges and universities.

• Address comparatively the sociopolitical climate and educational condidtions of 1968 and 2003, and the continued need to incorporate Chicano and Latino Studies into the K-12 curriculum today as a means to promote academic achievement, student retention and outreach recruitment.

• Promote participation of CSULB and local high school students, faculty and outreach/retention staff from the L.A. area, CSU campuses, and other colleges and universities.

• Produce a conference report that will outline the conference presentation, findings, conclusions and recomendations to seek model alternatives that will enhance Latino H.S. and college graduation.

Commemorative Conference Celebrating the
35th Anniversary of the East L.A. High School Walkouts:
"The Past, Present, and Future of Chicanos and Latinos in Education"
Saturday March 22, 2003
8am - 5pm
CSULB University Student Union