From the Student to Administrator Focus

This week Casa De Maryland, in collaboration with many other community based organizations (CBO’s), had a march on Washington, the Camino Americano: Marcha y Concierto por la Dignidad y El Respeto de los Inmigrantes on Tuesday, October 8th.  The State of Maryland is Washington, D.C.’s neighbor, which makes for a strong relationship with the political climate of our nation’s capital.  Currently, immigration reform is going to a legislative process, which CASA and other CBO’s are trying to influence the shape of the policy through these types of marches. The participation consisted of college students, community members, and politicians stressing the importance for immigration reform. These efforts put on hold our efforts to pilot the survey to the small youth group of DREAMERs that are part of CASA.  

This event pushed the research team to look at the other aspects of our research study, the administrators within four-year universities and two-year community college.  This part of the research will address the institutional factors that are assisting or hindering Latina/o college students to persist. We are now beginning to identify specific Maryland post-secondary institutions and administrators to interview, as well as follow appropriate IRB protocols for each institution. Most institutions seem to accept the UMCP’s IRB approved protocol, but others require the team to submit a new IRB application to the institution for review.