By Katlin Sweeney
Editor-In-Chief

Members of the student body and various student orgs are uniting to advocate for the creation of a Raza Center on campus.

Translating from Spanish to mean People Center, a Raza Center would function as a means of providing support to Latino students and cultural education to the student body as a whole. Primary goals including creating a sense of community and motivating students to succeed in school, a Raza Center would cater to the needs of the Latino population on campus and those arriving in upcoming years.

The idea for a Raza Center has continued to develop as the amount of Latino students on campus has increased, currently totaling 36 percent of the student body. In Spring 2010, CSUSM gained the title of Hispanic Serving Institution from the U.S. Department of Education, whose guidelines mandate that at least 25 percent of the student population be Hispanic/Latino for this distinction to be awarded. Combined with this title and the high volume of Latino students in the surrounding communities, research was conducted to develop a plan for laying out the foundation for the center.

“The school promotes unity and working together, but I also think that having your individual space where you can breathe, relax and be yourself should be on campus and respected,” United Students of Color Coalition President, Thiana Ruiz, said. “I believe that having your own space is not isolating yourself. We all have different experiences, cultural beliefs and it is important to acknowledge that everyone is different. Our goal is that the center would be in the USU and would have a homey environment so that everyone felt welcome.”

Established last year, United Students of Color Coalition (formally known as Estudiantes Unidos) invited all Latino orgs. on campus to participate in discussing Latino issues on campus, which resulted in the proposal for a Raza Center. Students utilized multiple avenues in order to begin working towards their vision, which included petitioning for support from their peers and garnering about 600 signatures in total. Participants, which included M.E.Ch.A, Ballet Folklorico, United Students of Color Coalition, S.T.A.N.D. and countless others also met with Cipriano Vargas, Vice President of Operations on ASI’s Board of Directors to learn more about the process of creating a center. Vargas wrote an ASI Resolution for a Latino/Hispanic center on campus, which he presented to the Board of Directors to be voted upon. They also had meetings with Arturo Ocampo, Associate Vice President of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, who provided them with resources and different routes that could be taken to make the center a viable possibility.

“We’re in a new spot in the CSU [system] where money is going into higher education. 2008 and 2009 [at CSUSM] saw major cuts when tuition was going up, classes being cut and teachers and staff with the furlough days,” Vargas said, “Right now, this is an opportunity where the state is investing more in education and opportunities for growth.”

The Resolution was passed by the Board of Directors on Feb. 28, 2014 and was then sent to President Haynes to be either approved or dismissed. It received positive remarks, Haynes creating a Work Group that will consider the possible development of a center, with conclusions decided on by the latest in December 2014.

“When you bring in centers like these, I have seen that it is an opportunity to help Latino students and all students in general,” Cipriano Vargas said. “Being a part of the ASI Board of Directors, I’ve been wanting to help establish this and start the conversation about it.”