On the evening of November 6th UC Campuses came together in-person and virtually to host the first UC-wide Latine Town Hall. The purpose of the town hall as stated in their presentation “[was] to create a safe space for Latine Students to come together to discuss issues that affect them as students and their respective communities.” The town hall included a panel discussion with representatives from various campuses including but not limited to UC Riverside, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Santa Cruz. After the panel, campuses were then able to discuss the conversation and begin to posit their own questions and concerns about being Latine students in the University of California. The overarching theme: how can UC campuses better serve and empower their Latine student populations?
The main concerns brought up by students centered around a lack of support and resources for Latine students and the UCs struggle to represent the Latine student body. School of Public Policy Senator Naia Pizarro was in attendance and stated: “As a Chicano identifying student, my first thought was how the UC system places emphasis on being a Hispanic Serving Institution or minority student serving institution, but when it comes to providing resources, they fall short.” This was a common concern discussed in the town hall. Students questioned how impactful a status like Hispanic Serving Institution was, and if it truly made a difference in their experiences. So what does Hispanic Serving Institution status mean? According to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, “[HSIs] are defined in federal law as accredited, degree-granting, public or private nonprofit institutions of higher education with 25% or more total undergraduate Hispanic full-time equivalent student enrollment, which also have an enrollment of low-income students and low average educational and general expenditures per FTE student, compared to similar institutions” (HACU 2023). In the UC system, the HSI initiative was launched in 2018 and committed “to creating a learning community whose makeup reflects California’s population.” The town hall was a space for students to challenge UCs on what it means to be an HSI and explain what the student body actually needs. In an exciting turn of events the first ever Latine Student Lobby Day was announced. The lobby day is to take place on February 26th, 2024.
After the town hall I sat down with the ASUCR Vice President of External affairs, Angel Renteria Enriquez, and ASUCR Government Relations and UCSA Government Relations Vice Chair Joanna Mendez to discuss the importance of events like the town hall and their goals for the lobby day.
“We decided that UCSA should have a Latine Lobby Day considering the fact that a bunch of UCs are HSIs, that should be in more than just name,” Ms. Mendez stated. In regards to hosting the town hall, Ms. Mendez asked: “how do we even know what matters to the Latine community? We should come up with a town hall.” The goal of the town hall was to begin the conversation about what matters to the Latine student body and Ms. Mendez wanted it to be more than just “oh, you look like me, so I automatically trust you. It should be based on how we have similar lived experiences [and] similar backgrounds.” When speaking about her goals for the lobby day she stated, “the next step is to match the concerns that everyone brought up [in the town hall] to bills and budget requests. So that is the next stage.” The Latine Student Lobby Day will be a way for the student body to directly translate their concerns into legislative change. Ms. Mendez explained that “a bunch of UC Campuses are serving large Latine communities. It would be nice to see them accurately represented in the legislature and the bills that they pass.”
Similarly to Ms. Mendez, ASUCR Vice President of External Affairs Angel Renteria Enriquez expressed the goal of “[being] intentional because every campus climate is different. [Students] should have a place to voice their concerns. It is important to have an overarching policy in the UC but also individual policies for each campus.” A very important aspect of the town hall and the lobby day was addressing the unique concerns of each UC campus. Ms. Mendez stated that, “the town hall was our best way to hear from every UC campus. We wanted input from everyone, not just three campuses to have the most say.” The concerns of the Latine student body at UC Riverside will be different than UC Davis, or UCLA. Each campus deserves to have a platform for advocacy and the lobby day offers that. Vice President Renteria stated, “it is very important that we have some say and an advocacy day dedicated to [the Latine student body]. We look at things through a very intersectional lens. We want to understand what does it mean to be a Latine student in the UC [system] and more so what does it mean to be a Latine student at each individual campus.”
Both the UC Latine Town Hall and Latine Lobby Day are critical stepping stones for the UC system to truly embody its status as a Hispanic Serving Institution and for the Latine student body to have a platform for advocacy and legislative change they had not had previously. When asked about her hopes for the lobby day Ms. Mendez stated, “just reducing barriers. Anything else that can help folks out even outside the community– hiring more Latine faculty and staff. It would be cool to see yourself reflected in the faculty and staff. I know a bunch of students have ideas and we are going to brainstorm possible bills and budget issues for those concerns.”