page_title: Chicana/o studies
section_title: Legal restrictions
hierarchical_section_title: Chicana/o studies / Legal restrictions
caption_attribution_description: English: Protesters are seen in June 2011 in support of the Tucson Unified School District's Mexican-American studies program. A new state law effectively ended the program saying it was divisive.
context_page_description: Chicana/o studies, also known as Chican@ studies, originates from the Chicano Movement of the late 1960s and 1970s, and is the study of the Chicana/o and Latina/o experience. Chican@ studies draws upon a variety of fields, including history, sociology, the arts, and Chican@ literature. The area of studies additionally emphasizes the importance of Chican@ educational materials taught by Chican@ educators for Chican@ students.
  In many universities across the United States, Chicana/o Studies is linked with other ethnic studies, such as Black Studies, Asian American Studies, and Native American Studies. Many students who have studied anthropology have also been involved in varying degrees of Chicana/o studies. Today, most major universities in areas of high Chicana/o concentration have a formal Chicana/o studies department or interdisciplinary program. Providing Chican@ studies to Chican@ students has helped these students find a community which offers a curriculum that is unique to their own heritage.
context_section_description: On May 11, 2010, the Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, signed House Bill 2281, or HB 2281. This bill prohibits course curricula within a school district or charter school from advocating ethnic solidarity or promoting insurgency, racism, or classism. Additionally, the course curriculum may not be designed exclusively for one ethnicity. However, Native American classes still comply with federal law. In addition, the grouping of classes based on academic performance is still permissible. Course curriculum concerning the history of a specific ethnic group or about controversial history which is available to all students is acceptable, as well. Another provision of the law stated that any school district or charter school breaching its stated provisions would be liable to lose state funding as a public institution. 
  Subsequently, the Mexican-American studies program taught in the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) was found to be in violation of House Bill 2281 by the former Arizona Superintendent, Tom Horne. On the contrary, an independent audit, paid for by the state of Arizona, found the program was not in violation of HB 2281. However, after TUSD issued an appeal stating the program was in violation, Superintendent John Huppenthal decided that the course must be disbanded instead of relinquishing state funding. Thus, in January 2012, the TUSD school board came to a 4-1 decision that the program was to be disbanded as to not lose state funding for the district. Furthermore, HB 2281 facilitated more challenges and limitations on classes teaching Chicana/o studies not just in Arizona, but across the United States.
caption: Protesters are seen in June 2011 in support of the Tucson Unified School District's Mexican-American studies program. A new state law effectively ended the program saying it was divisive.
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