UCLA set to open 'Latinx Success Center' in plan to gain Hispanic-Serving Institution status
UCLA will soon open a 'Latinx Success Center' as part of the school's larger efforts to obtain additional federal funding as a designated Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI).
UCLA HSI Director Elizabeth Gonzalez told The Daily Bruin that she hopes that the center will allow the university to become a 'model of inclusive excellence.'
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) will soon open a “Latinx Success Center” as part of the school’s larger efforts to obtain additional federal funding as a designated Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI).
As noted by The Daily Bruin, the plan for such a cultural resource center emerged from a recommendation contained in a 2022 university report on how to achieve HSI status.
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”Establish a Latinx Student Resource Center that can provide culturally responsive support for students and information for campus educators,” one of the report’s key recommendations stated. ”Build awareness, affirm Latinx students, and improve experiences campus-wide.”
The report also suggested that the center serve as ”a hub for Latinx students to build community, create a sense of belonging, and connect various resources and student organizations across campus.”
Included in the same recommendation was also a plan to hold a convocation each year in order to ”to welcome all Chicanx/Latinx students to campus.”
The center, set to open in January, will operate as a “one-stop shop” for “Latinx” students to obtain extra guidance and resources, a member of the UCLA HSI Task Force told The Daily Bruin.
UCLA HSI Director Elizabeth Gonzalez told the outlet that she hopes the center will allow the university to become a “model of inclusive excellence.”
While public universities in other states have removed cultural centers and other forms of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programming in recent times, UCLA remains committed to advancing DEI ideology.
UCLA provides an Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion that “leads and advances strategies for enhancing equity, diversity and inclusion; protecting civil rights; and upholding dignity for all in our community.”
The office website also acknowledges that “the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples as the traditional caretakers of Tovaangar (Los Angeles basin, So. Channel Islands).”
”UCLA’s mission as a public research university is the creation, dissemination, preservation and application of knowledge for the betterment of our global society,” the office also states. “We can best advance this mission when UCLA’s values of equity, diversity, and inclusion are upheld for our students, staff, faculty and throughout the UCLA community.”
In December 2020, UCLA announced its intention to become a federally-recognized HSI by 2025.
”The decision to pursue the federal HSI designation, which requires that 25% of our students identify as Latinx, is tied to our public responsibility in light of changing demographics in California and throughout the country,” then Chancellor Gene Block and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Emily Carter wrote at the time.
”One million Latinx young people will turn 18 this year and every year for the next two decades in the United States,” they continued, ”these students are important to our nation’s future, and we must ensure they are positioned to succeed and to lead.