Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association

Infobox Political Youth Organization
name_english = Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association
name_native = PRSSA
colorcode = #1f497d

logo2 =
president = José Cabrera
vice president = William-José Vélez
secretary2 = Astrid Martinez
founded = 1979, 2007
headquarters = Washington, D.C., San Juan, Puerto Rico
mother_party = Non-partisan
website = [http://www.statehoodpr.org/ www.statehoodpr.org]

The Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association (PRSSA) is an American student organization dedicated to promoting statehood for Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States, and coordinating the electoral participation of young pro-statehood voters.

History

PRSSA was founded by two then-college students in 1979, Kenneth McClintock, Puerto Rico's current President of the Senate, and Luis Fortuño, Puerto Rico's current Resident Commissioner and the 2008 New Progressive Party (NPP) gubernatorial candidate. The organization was set up to promote the discussion of Puerto Rico's political status dilemma in mainland United States colleges and universities, promote statehood for America's largest territory and facilitate absentee balloting in the islands' elections for the estimated 15,000 young voting residents of Puerto Rico registered in college campuses throughout the states and Washington, DC. [ [http://www.prssa.we.bs/history.html] PRSSA History ]

McClintock served as the association's first president until the summer of 1980, when he graduated from the Tulane University Law School, and was succeeded by Fortuño, a Georgetown University undergrad. Among PRSSA leaders, Tulane University student Pedro Pierluisi went on to become Puerto Rico's Attorney General and the 2008 NPP candidate for Resident Commissioner, George Washington University student José Rodríguez Suárez went on to become Puerto Rico's Under Secretary of State and José Jaime Pierluisi became Governor Pedro Rosselló's Economic Advisor prior to his untimely death in 1994. Other PRSSA members who have been prominent in later life include Francisco Cimadevilla, Editor-in-Chief at Casiano Communications, Ricardo Skerrett, an immigration attorney in Tampa, Florida and Manuel De Juan, a former Assistant Director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company. [ [http://www.prssa.we.bs/history.html] PRSSA History ]

Beginning in 1980, the association held several annual conventions, the first of which was a three-day meeting at the now defunct Cerromar Hotel in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico that featured then-congressman and future United States Senator, the late Paul Simon as keynote speaker, as well as then-Gov. Carlos Romero Barceló and statehood patriarch and former Gov. Luis A. Ferré as speakers.

During the 1980 gubernatorial election recount, the over 1,500 absentee ballots generated by PRSSA for incumbent Governor Carlos Romero Barceló was an important factor in his reelection by an approximately 3,000-vote margin. [ [http://www.prssa.we.bs/history.html] PRSSA History ]

Reactivation

In November 2007, José Cabrera Costas and William-José Vélez González, students from Florida International University and from the University of Dayton School of Law respectively, reactivated the association. [ [http://www.prssa.we.bs/history.html] PRSSA History ] Cabrera Costas is the current president and Vélez González serves as vice president. As of March 2008, PRSSA's official group on Facebook, "Statehood for Puerto Rico", has over 4,000 members. [ [http://udayton.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2205015266] "Statehood for Puerto Rico" on Facebook ] Accordingly, the association seeks to promote statehood for Puerto Rico and encourage pro-statehood students to vote in the upcoming 2008 NPP primaries and general elections [ [http://www.prssa.we.bs/news.absvote.html] "Bet on the absentee vote" (Spanish) www.statehoodpr.org ] [ [http://espanol.news.yahoo.com/s/26122007/20/eeuu-apuestan-voto-ausente.html] "Apuestan al voto ausente" (Spanish) El Nuevo Día Yahoo-Telemundo ] [ [http://www.elnuevodia.com/diario/noticia/politica/noticias/apuestan_al_voto_ausente/336426] "Apuestan al voto ausente" Spanish article on the El Nuevo Dia archive.] .

On February 2008, the organization celebrated its more than 100 registered members and over 35 chapters in universities across the nation, and on March 9, 2008, the PRSSA websites, including the blog, received more than 10,000 visits [http://blog.statehoodpr.org PRSSA Official Blog] , hence providing the results for the NPP Primaries to thousands of people from across the nation. Its University of Puerto Rico Río Piedras campus chapter is being supported by Association founder McClintock, who will speak at a chapter activity in a rare appearance by an NPP leader at the campus.

Executive Board

*President: José Cabrera
*Vice President: William-José Vélez
*Secretary: Astrid Martínez
*Executive Director: Raúl Vidal
*Public Relations Director: Vashti Joseph

tate Directors

*Puerto Rico: Roberto González
*Massachussetts: Alithia Acosta
*Florida: Javier Aguilú
*Ohio: Jose Pomales

Chapters

*Interamerican University of Puerto Rico
*Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico
*University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus
*University of Pennsylvania [http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/osl/contact.html Student Organization Contact List 2007-2008 of the University of Pennsylvania]

References

External links

* [http://www.fortunogobernador.com/comienzos.php Fortuño biography]
* [http://prdemocratcorner.blogspot.com/2007/10/pedro-r.html. Pierluisi biography]
* [http://www.statehoodpr.org Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association Official Website]
* [http://blog.statehoodpr.org Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association Official Blog]