[author title=”About the Author” author_id=”24″]

By Katlin Sweeney

Editor-in-Chief

Many members of the campus community and surrounding San Marcos area saw their dream become a reality when President Haynes announced that CSUSM will implement a Latin@ Center this year.

On Jan.28, President Haynes notified the campus populace of the news through an email from the Office of the President, confirming CSUSM’s plans to move forward with the creation of what was formerly referred to as the “Raza Center.” In her email, Haynes announced that the Latin@ Center would open in fall 2015 and be located in the USU, a process that will be overseen by Dr. Lorena Meza, Vice President of Student Affairs. According to Haynes, Meza will also oversee the development of “operational structure, budget, location and timeline for the Center’s opening.”

While the implementation of the Latin@ Center may come as a surprise to some, many members of the campus and local community have been working to bring this center to CSUSM for more than a year. CSUSM is considered a Hispanic Serving Institution, with 4,036 of its 11,300 students identifying as Hispanic or Latino/a in 2014. This translates to approximately 35.6 percent of the entire student population on campus, a percentage only surpassed by the Caucasian student population of approximately 35.8 percent.

Due to the demographics of the campus and surrounding communities, student organizations such as United Students of Color Coalition (USCC), M.E.Ch.A., Ballet Folklorico and S.T.A.N.D. have participated in starting conversations demonstrating the need for a center at CSUSM.

Methods for raising awareness have included drafting a petition which garnered about 600 signatures in total, meeting with Dr. Arturo Ocampo, Associate Vice President of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and creating the hashtag #RazaCenterCSUSM.

In 2014, Cipriano Vargas, former Vice President of Operations on ASI’s Board of Directors (BoD), met with members of these and other student orgs. to draft the ASI Resolution for a Latino/Hispanic center on campus. The BoD voted in favor of the Resolution on Feb. 28, 2014, and it was then sent to President Haynes to be either approved or dismissed. Haynes approved the Resolution and created a work group that was tasked with depicting how to implement the center at CSUSM, as well as how it could benefit students. These proposals were submitted for review this past December. Now Meza and her search committee will begin looking for candidates to fill the position of the Latin@ Center’s assistant director.

The Center will support not only Hispanic and Latino/a students on campus, but the entire campus community in an effort to celebrate Latin@ culture and provide important resources for success.