Jorge A. Bustamante, Eugene P. and Helen Conley Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame, has been nominated to receive the Nobel Peace Prize by Mexico’s Congress.
Bustamante, a native of Tijuana who earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from Notre Dame in 1970 and 1975, respectively, has been a member of the University’s faculty since 1986. He said he was pleased by the nomination and considered it an award in itself, adding that “in the past there have been up to 100 nominations, so I consider this a remote possibility, but the process has begun.”
In addition to his teaching and scholarship at Notre Dame, Bustamante founded and served for many years as president of El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, a Mexican research center for the study of social issues affecting the border region between the United States and Mexico.
An outspoken advocate of human and labor rights for immigrants worldwide and particularly in Mexico, Bustamante has vehemently criticized proposed legislation which would deny U.S. citizenship to the American-born children of undocumented immigrants, describing it as “not only unconstitutional but a grave act of xenophobia.”
The selection of a Nobel Peace Prize winner takes nearly a year, and the next award will be presented Dec. 10 in Oslo, Norway.
Contact: Jorge Bustamante at 631-3820 Jorge.A.Bustamante.1@nd.edu
Originally published by at newsinfo.nd.edu on January 24, 2006.