Meet the UNLV profesor helping Dreamers

“I always wanted to do work where I was able to change the world,” said Anita Tijerina Revilla. She gets her large ambition from her mother, who underwent a transformation when Revilla’s abusive father died when she was 8 in Texas. With three kids and no education, Revilla’s mother did everything possible to move her family forward. Inspired by her mother Revilla committed herself to always support her family.

Against the odds, she escaped poverty through education. She persisted even when her high school counselor tried to dissuade her from applying to elite schools. She got accepted into 10 colleges and was admitted to Princeton. At Princeton she convinced herself that she belonged there just as much as any other student. After finishing her undergrad she knew she could do anything. Eventually, she got her Doctorate in Education from UCLA.

She was finally able to articulate the discrimination that surrounded her as she grew up in a Mexican-American family. Her family internalized the racism and sexism around them. They would call other Mexican wetbacks. Some of her relatives favored her lighter-skinned cousins. Her grandparents forced her mother into marriage and discouraged anything else. In college she realized this behavior was structural and that her family was acting on it without knowing it. These institutional forces tried to keep her down. But she followed her mother’s lead and rebelled against them.

Now Revilla’s office is located centrally on the campus of UNLV in the fourth floor of the Classroom Building Complex B. She sits in her warmly lit room with portraits of feminist icons hanging on the walls, including one psychedelic-colored canvass of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. The 43-year-old Director of Interdisciplinary, Gender, Ethnic and Sexuality Studies styles a short haircut with the left side of her head buzzed. She moves her hands in powerful gestures as she talks about her work. She is leading the effort to protect marginalized students that are being put at risk by the new presidential administration.

Revilla and her department are used to being unfairly targeted. In the span of 13 years, the Gender and Ethnic studies program has been targeted for elimination twice. But each time Revilla has proved the program’s worth to the university’s administration. Over 2000 students a year take the department’s Race, Class, and Gender course to fulfill the multicultural requirement for their degree. Five years ago the Gender and Ethnic Studies program combined with the Interdisciplinary Studies program. This forced partnership ended up being a good match. This past December they became an official department.The new department teaches students to think critically across various disciplines. Revilla and her department prepares aspiring lawyers, scholars, and business leaders to tear down unjust social structures. However, Revilla doesn’t feel completely safe about the department’s status. She knows programs like her’s are always at risk especially in tense political climates.

“We study the history of social movements,” said Revilla about her focus within the department. She said once you learn about social injustice, it’s inevitable that you are going to get involved. And that is why her department and students are getting involved right now. Revilla headed the effort to declare UNLV as a sanctuary campus that would protect undocumented students. Over 1000 communities members signed her petition and she met with university official several times. The administration decided not to declare sanctuary status after President Trump threatened to stop federal funding to sanctuary cities and campuses. However, itdid agree to support immigrant students by offering additional services, training, and not tolerating any discrimination against them. A group of faculty also started a sanctuary alliance that meets regularly to teach staff how to support students.

The administration also met with a smaller anti-immigrant group. Although the administration is not doing anything illegal to support undocumented students under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals executive order signed by President Obama, Revilla said that this is not a legality issue.

“It used to be illegal to be gay. It used to be illegal to marry somebody of a different race. The idea that just because something is illegal it’s not right is a misconception,” said Revilla. “The law has not always treated people equally.  We will continue to fight back against immigrants being criminalized unjustly.”

Revilla wants to continue educating the administration and students about these issues. The institutional forces that tried to keep her down are still at work today. Revilla does not believe the current national political is sustainable. She said people are going to have to make a choice. Ignoring the issue is contributing to the problem.