By RUSSELL CONTRERAS
Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Mexican American scholars from universities across the country are gathering in New Mexico for an annual national conference amid uncertainty.

Members of the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies are scheduled Wednesday to start their four-day conference in Albuquerque as President Donald Trump ponders closing a section of the southern U.S-Mexico border.

The conference also comes amid reports a storied Mexican American student group is considering a name change stemming from a dispute over the word "Chicano."

Chicano, which means Mexican Americans, gained popularity during the militant Chicano Movement of the 1970s.

Founded in 1972, the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies supports Mexican American academics in social sciences, the arts and the humanities. The group pushes for faculty diversity at the nation's universities.

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