Albuquerque--Members of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA)--which translates to Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan-- say their organization is being unfairly targeted by school administrations across the country. The harassment they are facing, says one student, "is like the 1960s, but with a 1990s twist."

The types of problems MEChA has been subjected to in the past few months include: the suspension of a MEChA newspaper; threats to fire a MEChA faculty sponsor; the arrest of a student for non-protest activities; and harassment by a conservative organization. At St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas, the editor of the MEChA newspaper Espiritu de Aztlan (Spirit of Aztlan), received a memo saying that the periodical was not a publication approved by the Student Publications Board.

The memo also instructed the paper to cease publication until approval is acquired. Christina Ramirez, the newspaper's editor, says that Espiritu de Aztlan has been an approved publication since 1993 and that it has a letter from the dean which recognizes that assertion. The newspaper also has work-study positions, which show that the publication is approved and recognized, says Ramirez, who adds that community support forced the board to reconsider its position. "We felt very threatened. We felt they wanted to stifle our voices. Our first reaction was that we had been caught in a 1960s time warp and that we were dealing with people with tiny minds who were closed off to reality," Ramirez says.

Across the country, MEChA has held rallies to demand Chicano/Latino studies departments and to protest anti-immigrant or anti-affirmative action movements, among other things. And although members have been arrested for such things as "failure to disperse" and "disturbing the peace," the current opposition that MEChA encounters is, according to Ramirez, not always done in the confrontational way of the 1960s.

Current opposition to MECha activities comes in the form of red tape, says Ramirez, adding that students are now forced to contend with cumbersome regulations which have the same stifling effect as outright banishment, censorship, or law enforcement action against the organization.