COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

By His Excellency

FRANCIS W. SARGENT

Governor

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 104

Planning a System of Ethnic Heritage Programs

    WHEREAS, we recognize the richly diverse composition of
the citizenry of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; and

    WHEREAS, we recognize the fact that in a multiethnic
society a greater understanding of the contributions of one's
own heritage and those of one's fellow citizens can contribute
to a more harmonious, creative, interesting, stimulating,
patriotic, and committed populace; and

    WHEREAS, we endorse the principle that all persons in
the educational institutions of the Commonwealth should have
an opportunity to learn about the varied and unique contri-
butions to the national heritage made by each ethnic group; and

    WHEREAS, recognition of the contributions of the various
ethnic groups to the development of our Commonwealth and the
nation must be an integral part of Bicentennial activities; and

    WHEREAS, the General Court has in 1971 provided for the
establishment and implementation of programs in bilingual
and bicultural education in the public schools of the Common-
wealth; and
 
    WHEREAS, the General Court has established the American
and French Canadian Cultural Exchange Commission, and
Division of Immigration and Americanization and the Council on
Arts and Humanities to develop programs and provide service to
citizens from various ethnic groups; and

    WHEREAS, we recognize the need to develop a coordinated
statewide system for the promotion of ethnic heritage-related
activities to afford students the opportunity to learn about
the nature of their own cultural heritage and to study the
contributions of the cultural heritages of the other ethnic
groups of the Commonwealth; to wit:

    Programs and Orqanizations:  there is a need to develop,
promote and coordinate ethnic heritage activities among the
Bilingual-Bicultural Program, Arts and Humanities council,
Higher Education Institutions and community ethnic organiz-
ations.

    Media and Materials:  there is a need to develop, promote
and disseminate available ethnic heritage-related media and
materials to support Bilingual-Bicultural programs and other
related educational programs and conferences;

    NOW, THEREFORE, I, Francis W. Sargent, Governor of the
Commonwealth, by virtue of the authority vested in me as
Supreme Executive Magistrate, do hereby order as follows:

    1.  There shall be a Task Force, which shall work from
this day until December 31, 1974, to investigate and study
the existence and development of ethnic heritage programs
and achievements in the Commonwealth and elsewhere.  The
Task Force shall establish criteria and make recommendations
for the establishment of geographical boundaries and member-
ship for local, regional and statewide ethnic heritage
councils, methods for achieving such objectives, and a schedule
for achieving such objectives.

    2.  The Task Force shall investigate and study the develop-
ment of ethnic heritage curriculum materials for use in 
elementary and secondary schools and institutions of higher
education throughout the Commonwealth.  The Task Force shall
suggest methods for working with persons and organizations
in the communities being served to bring about a system of
statewide, regional and local ethnic heritage studies programs
and methods for financing said programs.

    3.  The Task Force shall be comprised of not less than
21 members, including one member of the Senate, one member of
the House of Representatives, the Chairman of the State
Bilingual and Bicultural Advisory Council, the Secretary of
Educational Affairs, who shall be the chairman, and not less
than 18 other citizens reflecting a variety of ethnic
heritages and appropriate governmental agencies.

    4.  The Task Force may cooperate with any agency of the
Commonwealth or of its political subdivisions in the conduct
of its study.  The Task Force shall report to the Board of
Higher Education, the Board of Education and the General Court
from time to time.

Given at Boston this seventeenth
day of April in the year one
thousand nine hundred and seventy-
four and the year of the indepen-
dence of the United States of
America, the one hundred and
ninety-eighth.

FRANCIS W. SARGENT
Governor
Commonwealth of Massachusetts

JOHN F.X. DAVOREN
Secretary of the Commonwealth
GOD SAVE THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS