Gina M. Pérez, the author of "The Near Northwest Side Story: Migration, Displacement, and Puerto Rican Families", wrote that in Chicago the school is known as ""the" Puerto Rican high school". Jennifer Domino Rudolph, author of "Embodying Latino Masculinities: Producing Masculatinidad" wrote that the school "is strongly associated with Puerto Rican cultural nationalism". Ana Y. Ramos-Zayas, author of "National Performances: The Politics of Class, Race, and Space in Puerto Rican Chicago", wrote that the school was portrayed in the media as "the property of Puerto Rican nationalists" and "as part of Puerto Rico." Rudolph stated that media depictions of violence from Puerto Rican nationalism movements caused the school to become controversial, and that the school was associated with much of the "backlash against manifestations of Puerto Rican identity." According to Pérez, as of 2004, most West Town area residents have a sense of pride in the school, while also lamenting issues common in Chicago public schools that appear at Clemente, such as gangs and school violence, dropouts, and low test scores.