Williams to Screen Documentary on Ethnic Studies Civil Rights

Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., May 7, 2012 – On Thursday, May 10, at 5 p.m., Williams College will host a screening of the documentary, Precious Knowledge, at Images Cinema in Williamstown. The event is free and open to the public.

The film interweaves the stories of students in the Mexican American Studies Program at Tucson High School. Although 48 percent of Mexican American students currently drop out of high school, Tucson High School’s Mexican American Studies Program has become a national model for success. On average, 93 percent of the school’s Mexican American students graduate from high school and 85 percent go on to attend college. The makers of the film spent a year in the classroom filming this documentary, which shows the school’s innovative social justice curriculum and documents its impact on students.

Precious Knowledge is timely given Arizona’s wave of anti-immigration legislation.  Arizona lawmakers recently passed a bill that gives unilateral power to the state superintendent to get rid of ethnic studies classes.

The event will be followed by a Q-and-A with producer Eren McGinnis, who is the co-founder of the feminist filmmaking company Café Sister Productions and has produced 19 movies.

The event is sponsored by the Latina/o studies program, Multicultural Center, VISTA, College Council, Minority Coalition, dean’s office and vice president for strategic planning & institutional diversity.

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For building locations on the Williams campus, please consult the map outside the driveway entrance to the Security Office located in Hopkins Hall on Main Street (Rte. 2), next to the Thompson Memorial Chapel, or call the Office of Communications (413) 597-4277. The map can also be found on the web at www.williams.edu/map

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Published May 7, 2012