1967 a Historical Turning Point for Latinos at Stanford

Four Mexican-American Stanford students took actions in 1967 that would lead to fundamental improvements at their university and would eventually have direct ramifications for thousands of Latinos — like myself— that would follow them into Stanford.

Arturo Cazares
Jul 25, 2017 · 8 min read
Page 1 of 2, 1967 letter to Dean Snyder [small typo — the percentage of Mexican-Americans/Latinos was approximately 0.35 of 1 per cent ~ about 1/3 of 1 per cent]

The four students that would change history and bend the future for the good are:

  • Frank O. Sotomayor, AM ’67,
  • Frank Ponce, AM ’68,
  • Luis G. Nogales, JD Law ’69,
  • Robert L. Anchondo, AB ‘69

They wrote a pivotal letter to the then Dean of Admissions Rixford Snyder regarding the under representation of Mexican-Americans at Stanford. A copy of their letter is included as well as the response they received from Dean of Admissions Snyder.

Page 2 of 2, 1967 letter to Dean Snyder

Sotomayor — the principal author — and a signatory of the letter explained that others worked on various efforts subsequent to their letter to effect the changes in the recruitment policies that Stanford would eventually implement. However he specifically called out Mr. Luis G. Nogales — one of the four signatories of the letter — for his leadership after the letter was sent including his extensive work with students and the university administration to promote the increase recruitment and enrollment of Latino students at Stanford as well as the increase in Latino staff and faculty at Stanford.

Reply from Dean Snyder

In retrospect it cannot be any more clear, that letter marked a turning point. In 1967 there were at most only 40 U.S. Latino students at Stanford (most likely Mexican-Americans at that time), however by the early 1970’s the U.S. Latino student population at Stanford would grow to number in the hundreds and include U.S. Latinos whose heritage originated in many countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

In a recent communication, Sotomayor conveyed to me that he had tears of gratitude when he read my email informing him that he and his comrades’ legacy is now approaching 11,000 Stanford U.S. Latino alumni!

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For Stanford alumni:

  • Please join the Stanford Latino Alumni Association (SLAA). We are a large global network of Stanford Latino alumni. Its free and its easy to join, the link is>> http://alu.ms/stanfordlatinoalumni
  • Also, you are invited to the Stanford Latino Reunion 2018 on Oct 26. We will celebrate more than 50 years of Latinos at Stanford — it will be fun and its free. Please register here>> https://alu.ms/LatinxReunion2018

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Following are the profiles of the four signatories of the letter:

Frank O. Sotomayor, A.M. 1967

Frank O. Sotomayor, circa 1966

Senior Fellow at the Institute for Justice and Journalism; adjunct faculty member in journalism at USC and a Fellow with the California Endowment Health Journalism Program; former editor at the Los Angeles Times.

Frank O. Sotomayor has been a journalist, mentor and an advocate for diversity in the news media and at Stanford. He was an editor at the Los Angeles Times for 35 years, including 18 as an assistant city editor. He was co-editor and a writer on the Times series “Latinos in Southern California,” which won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service. Sotomayor currently is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Justice and Journalism. He’s also an adjunct faculty member in journalism at USC and a Fellow with the California Endowment Health Journalism Program.

Frank O. Sotomayor when he was inducted into the Multicultural Hall of Fame at Stanford in 2011

Sotomayor has mentored young journalists and helped train professionals for four decades. He was a co-founder of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, which led the movement to diversify the nation’s newsrooms. He was co-founder of the California Chicano News Media Association and helped establish a key journalism job fair. He was also involved in founding the National Association for Hispanic Journalists; in 2002, he was inducted to NAHJ’s Hall of Fame.

He received a B.A. from the University of Arizona and a master’s in communication from Stanford. While at Stanford in spring 1967, he and two other students met with the director of admissions and advocated for recruiting efforts to admit more Chicanos, who made up one-third of 1% of the student body. That meeting launched recruiting efforts of Latinos.

Sotomayor also studied at Harvard as a Nieman Fellow. He also worked at the Arizona Daily Star, Philadelphia Inquirer and Pacific Stars and Stripes. He authored “Para los Niños, Improving Education for Mexican Americans” and co-edited the book “Frank del Olmo: Commentaries on His Times.” Sotomayor was born in Tucson, son of a Mexican American gardener and a housewife. He was married to the late Meri Sotomayor and has two children, Teresa and Stephen. Sotomayor is remaried to Barbara Sotomayor.

Luis Nogales, J.D. 1969

Founder and managing partner of Nogales Investors and a board member of Edison International, KB Home, Arbitron Inc., The Getty Trust, and the Mayo Clinic Trust.

Luis G. Nogales, circa 1970, Special assistant to the President of Stanford University

Luis Nogales was a co-founder of MEChA both at Stanford and in the nation. He became Stanford’s first Assistant to the President for Mexican-American Affairs one day after graduating from the Stanford Law School in 1969. As a student leader and member of the President’s senior staff, he was instrumental in institutionalizing the enrollment and participation of Latino students, faculty and staff at Stanford. He left Stanford when he was selected a White House Fellow; he continued his involvement with the University by serving on the visiting committees of the Law School, the Libraries, and the Haas Center for Public Service, which he chaired. Later he became the first Latino member of the Stanford University Board of Trustees. Although, he was often the first Latino to hold a position, his motto has been to neither be the only, nor the last.

Mr. Nogales has had a full and active career in the private sector and public service. He served as CEO of United Press International and President of Univision, among senior operating positions; in addition, he has served on the board of directors Levi Strauss & Company, The Bank of California, Lucky Stores, Golden West Broadcasters, Arbitron, K-B Home, Coors, and Kaufman & Broad, S.A. France. He also served as Senior Advisor to the Latin America Private Equity Group of Deutsche Bank working in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. On corporate boards he has been an advocate for diversity of the workforce and senior management. While assuming leadership positions in the private sector, Mr. Nogales continued participating in public service by serving, among other activities, as a Trustee of the Ford Foundation, The Getty Trust, The Mayo Clinic Trust, and Stanford University. He also served on the board of directors of the Inter American Foundation, The Inter American Dialogue, The Pacific Council on Foreign Policy and The Mexican and American Legal Defense Fund, (MALDEF) where he served as president of the Board.

He was co-founder of the Los Angeles Chicano City Commissioners Caucus when he served as City Commissioner. He was also a founding member of the California Commission on Higher Education and was appointed by President Clinton to the Commission on Federal Capital Investment. He was founding chairman of the California Channel. In 2001, Luis Nogales and his wife, Rosita, donated $1 million to MALDEF to defend the rights of immigrants. In that same year, Mr. Nogales established a scholarship endowment at San Diego State University where he attended as an undergraduate. Currently, Mr. Nogales is founder and managing partner of Nogales Investors, a private equity investment firm with offices in Los Angeles and New York. He continues to be active in politics, social mobility reform, and corporate governance. Mr. Nogales grew up in the agricultural valleys of California, based in Calexico, working as a farm worker.

Frank Ponce, AM ‘68

The Rev. Frank Ponce, 47, a Catholic priest who had worked here for a coalition of Spanish-speaking mental health organizations and as a program organizer for a national network of runaway and youth services, died of cancer July 23 at a hospital in San Diego. Father Ponce was born in Driggs, Idaho. He graduated from the University of San Diego and received master’s degrees in English from Stanford University and in divinity at St. Patrick’s Seminary in California. He was ordained in 1972. After serving at parishes in California, he moved to Washington in 1977 and worked until 1981 in the office of the secrtariat for Spanish speakers at the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. In that role he organized a national meeting of Spanish-speaking Catholics. From 1981 to 1984 he studied at the Sorbonne and the Catholic Institute in France, then returned to the Washington area, where he worked for the mental health and runaway and youth network. He moved to San Diego last October. Survivors include his father, Anselmo Ponce of San Bernadino, Calif; a brother, Michael Ponce of San Bernadino; and three sisters, Mary Louise Villa of San Bernadino, Martha Ponce Hull of Santa Clara, Calif., and Cynthia Ponce of San Juan Bautista, Calif.

Robert L. Anchondo, AB ‘69

Col. Robert L. Anchondo
Robert L. Anchondo, with teammates at the 1968 NCAA Championship

Robert Anchondo is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel. He now teaches English as a Second Language and history at Lockhart Junior High in Lockhart, Texas, where he lives with his wife Joan. They have 4 children. As a senior at Stanford Anchondo in 1969 oversaw a new tutoring program for newly admitted minorities with non-traditional academic preparation prior to Stanford to insure they would adjust successfully and pave the way for increased minority admits in the future. He was also on the cross country team — in the photo Anchondo is with his team, he is holding the trophy — they came in 2nd in the 1968 NCAA Championship. Anchondo received an AB in Political Science from Stanford in 1969 and a Masters in History from Trinity University in 1981.

Arturo Cazares

Written by

Latino, Mexican, Chicano, American, Stanford, Silicon Valley, Stockton, Michoacán, Mexico City, UK, Germany

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