Q&A with professor and commencement speaker Paul Cuadros

Paul Cuadros is a professor in the School of Media and Journalism, co-founder of the Carolina Latino/a Collaborative and executive director of UNC Scholars' Latino Initiative. He has been named the speaker for Winter Commencement. Daily Tar Heel reporter Acy Jackson talked with Cuadros about how he feels about being named the speaker. 

 The Daily Tar Heel: What does being named commencement speaker mean to you?

Paul Cuadros: Well, it's a great honor to have been selected as speaker for this year's graduates. I'm touched and I'm humbled by the selection. I'm looking forward to it and I think it'll be a great event and it will be so nice to see our grads off on the really special day. So, for me personally, you know, I feel I guess more embraced by the Carolina community so I'm really happy about that. I'm happy to share that with the graduates on that day.

DTH: What do you hope to give as your message?

PC: My message, I'm still working on that. I just got informed quite recently, so I'm thinking about what it is I'm going to say. But I'm not sure as yet. So I'm putting some thought into it, but I have to — I'll be very honest with you, I think that I'll really, really concentrate on the elections and see what sort of happens, but yeah, it'll be on my mind in terms of what I want to say, but I think that I've been thinking about moments in life that we all go through both at this time for our graduates and what's to come for them in the future. So those are some of the things I'll be thinking about. in terms of what I'll focus on. 

DTH: In the press release it says you embolden students to "investigate issues affecting communities, the state, the country and the world by examining race and poverty in America." Can you speak a little bit more to that? 

PC: Sure. So my history prior to coming to Carolina was an investigative reporter and most of the issues I ended up focusing on were issues of race and poverty, what we call social justice issues. So I'm interested in giving voice to communities that don't have a large voice. I'm interested in challenging authorities about systems that are inherently unfair. Those are the things I've concentrated my career on and my writings on and that includes my book "A Home on the Field." So those are the things I look do in my work and then I look to bring in the classroom at Carolina as well. And to examine those issues. You know, one thing that the election has really brought out all those sort of issues that we grapple with in America about our differences and change, how the country is going to change. 

DTH: You are the co-founder of the Carolina Latino/a Collaborative correct?

PC: Yeah, that's exactly right. I'm the co-founder of a lot of things. 

DTH: Can you speak a little bit to the recent protest on creating a Latinx center?

PC: I'm the (chairperson) of the committee to create the center. So this committee has been working on proposing and going through the steps to create a center and it's a long process that you have to do with the administration. Last spring we reached essentially our last step which was the proposal to establish the center. That went before special committee on centers and institutes and that committee voted to recommend the establishment of the center, that was back in April. So essentially we've been kind of wondering: so what is the next step. How do we push this forward, how do we keep this sort of going? … I think the students that have been working at the CLC have grown impatient with the process and feel like they're not supported by the administration and so they want definitive answers and they want them now. And I think that's legitimate. We finished our work in terms of proposing to establish the center back in April and it's been almost six months, you know I think it's legitimate for those students to be able to voice their opinion as to where the process is now and to push it forward. 

DTH: In your time at UNC, what do you think you've learned?

PC: I think what I've learned most from Carolina, my experience there, is that the students are empowering. They empower me as a faculty member to write to do good things and they empower me in the classroom and challenge me in the classroom, but I think thing that I'm most impressed by Carolina is the students commitment to go and get involved in things. It's not true of a lot of other universities. Students are actively engaged in things, they're either studying abroad or they're volunteering for organizations or volunteering for organizations at Carolina — you know you don't get that at other universities. You get students at other universities sometimes that are solely interested in their academic careers and their getting out. At Carolina, everybody is interested in doing things to better situations and I really love that about UNC and the spirit that exists there. That's not coming out of the back end. That comes from faculty members, administration and students themselves. And it's a wonderful thing for our state and it's a great thing for our region too. 

DTH: Is there anything else you'd like to add about being commencement speaker?

PC: Yes, I think it's a privilege and an honor to have been selected by the committee and to have the Chancellor's support. I think that issues that I'll probably talk about and bring up in terms of demographic change and how our country is changing reflects upon Carolina's mission and commitment to diversity integration. So I think it will be a good time. I certainly want it to be that and I want our graduates to be able to leave Carolina spirited by good things and also challenged to go forth into the world and do great things, and I know that they're going to be able to do that. I'm looking forward to talking to them.

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