OSU Kalmekak Community Outreach Program Records, 1994-2018

The OSU Kalmekak program arose out of a need for outreach to the Latino, Chicano, and Indigenous community of Oregon. Early ideas of the program included an exchange program with students from Mexico and mother/childcare programs, including a community meeting led by Dr. Manuel Pacheco. They received input from community members about what they wanted to see from the program (the papers of which are included in the documentation) and then presented these ideas to Oregon State officials such as Vice President Roy Arnold and Provost for Academic Affairs John Dunn on May 26th, 1995. This led to the implementation of a pilot program that occurred in the winter term of 1996. This program became official with the Inaguración– a ribbon cutting ceremony, an Aztec ceremony by Mexica Tiahui, and an open hour of the new space in Waldo 128 in January of 1997.

As the program evolved, it settled into its core mission of helping the Latino and Chicano community of OSU, Corvallis, and Oregon. They did this by implementing programs that broadened diversity in higher education institutions by assisting with the high school to college transition and empowering them to pursue those pathways. They also worked for social justice by advocating for their rights as well as educating and developing cultural awareness within the Corvallis community about the Latino/Chicano population of Oregon.

Materials within the collection provide insight into the origin and evolution of the word "Kalmekek." Collection materials describe the word "Kalmekak" as coming from the Mexica Aztec Indian language Nahuatl, and it means "a place of education including cultural and spiritual aspects." The name changed spelling from "Calmecac" in 1996-1999 to "Kalmekak" in 2000-2018, and this change is reflected in the collection materials. The way the program refers to the community also changes throughout the collection, such as by using an ‘@,’ o/a,’ or ‘x’ at the end of "Latino" and "Chicano" to indicate the multiplicity of the genders represented within the community.