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Cal Poly is closing in on the 25% Latinx undergraduate enrollment criteria eligible to receive the Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) federal designation. As of 2023, Hispanic or Latinx undergraduate students comprised 22.92% of the student body, according to Cal Poly enrollment data last updated Jan. 4, 2024.
What is a Hispanic Serving Institution, or an HSI?
An eligible university or college must have an undergraduate student body identifying as Hispanic or Latinx of at least 25% to be designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). This designation allows institutions to apply for additional grant funding through the Department of Education.
There are 600 HSIs as of 2023, according to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. Cal Poly is considered one of 421 Emerging HSIs, universities or colleges with a 15-25% Hispanic or Latinx undergraduate student enrollment.
In 2022, Cal Poly established an HSI Task Force to help “holistically serve” the Latinx community at Cal Poly. They project that Cal Poly will reach HSI status in 2026.
According to its recommendations, the task force’s mission was to “provide diverse curricular and co-curricular experiences that reflect the cultural and intellectual richness of the Latinx community. “
Mustang News spoke to Latinx students on how Cal Poly could better serve them and their community. As the university approaches major institutional changes, like semester conversion, on-campus housing overhauls or a possible merge with Cal Maritime, Latinx students want to ensure they are not lost in the noise.
La CASA seeks expansion
Rising political science sophomore Leticia Marisol Chavira said meeting new people in classes is difficult. She is usually one of few Hispanic students in her courses. “There is a disconnect trying to get involved and feeling like I have a place here at Cal Poly,” Marisol Chavira said.
In the fall of 2022, the Latinx Center for Academic Success and Achievement (La CASA) opened in Building 52, the cultural center built to support and celebrate Hispanic and Latinx students.
“La CASA is the only place where I’ve found other Hispanic people, like myself, able to have some sense of relief that I have other people like me here on campus,” Marisol Chavira said. “I can talk in Spanish and feel like I’m not losing my bit of culture as I’m here.”
For reference, the MultiCultural Center opened in 1981; the Gender Equity Center in 1994; the Men and Masculinities Center in 2016; the Dream Center in 2017, according to the center’s respective SDAB websites.
“La CASA is something that’s open now, but it’s a travesty that it took as long as it did for there to be a space like that,” psychology graduate Elias Sandoval said.
Sandoval said the center also struggles due to a lack of leadership. While student assistants or other staff at La CASA are trying, he said there’s a need for a coordinator. This position was filled by master’s student Jeremiah Hernandez since Mustang News spoke with Sandoval.
In their recommendation, the task force also set a goal to establish a new Director of Latinx and HSI strategies and programs, who would assist with expanding La CASA’s services. The task force hopes to start this position in the next two years, according to one of the task force’s co-chairs and DEI Strategic Planning & Networks Assistant Vice President Beya Makekau.
The HSI designation could mean more funding for centers like La CASA, including extending hours and hosting more events which Sandoval believes are essential to creating a sense of belonging for students of color.
“At Cal Poly, the reality is that we do go to a [predominantly white institution] and so many students feel like they’re here but don’t belong, to be quite frank, on our campus,” Sandoval said.
Increased Representation
Sandoval spent the past year developing a new course that focuses on Latinx scholars in psychology. According to Sandoval, the course is an effort to decolonize the field and highlight non-white voices that are often ignored.
“You don’t hear about these prominent thinkers from Latin America or from cultures in Africa or Asia,” Sandoval said. “These different communities bring in their cultural wealth and their religions and their community’s knowledge.”
The development of the course was led by psychology professors Susana López and Jay Bettergarcia. It was funded as one of 16 HSI mini-grants given by the university as recommended by the task force.
Sandoval said courses that center on underrepresented groups are vital, but representation should also be included in more core courses.
“I wish it wasn’t just ‘multicultural psych’ or ‘Latinx psych,’” Sandoval said. “I wish we weren’t relegated to these classes that will probably just be an elective. It won’t be something that people have to take and so the people that probably need the class won’t be taking it.”
Beyond the curriculum, students want to see themselves represented in the people educating them. According to Cal Poly Institutional Research employee data as of Jan. 17, about 7% of faculty identify as Hispanic or Latinx.
Last fall, biomedical engineering sophomore Angeni Garcia took one of Elsa Medina’s calculus classes. Elsa Medina was Garcia’s first and only Hispanic professor.
“She was that role model figure, although I don’t think she realized,” Garcia said. “If she could do it, I can do this too. She graduated from the STEM field, and I have that same ability. It might be a little bit of extra work. But that’s part of a goal, isn’t it?”
Even though the course was not taught in Spanish, Garcia recognized part of her culture in the professor, which reminded her of home.
“In all these classes, you don’t see much diversity in any way. She [the professor] has an accent that shows that her first language is Spanish. I was able to understand the accent because my parents have that same accent.”
Angeni Garcia
Higher Visibility
Hispanic and Latinx culture could be shown in many ways to make students feel more visible on campus. One way, according to recent environmental sciences and management master’s graduate Jacquelyn Morales, could be with artwork on campus.
“I know that Cal Poly is starting to do some murals,” Morales said. “But they’re, and I don’t want to be offensive at all, kind of the Scout Coffee, white woman hippie boho vibe.When it comes to murals, I think it’d be really cool to use that avenue to celebrate culture. I think visibility definitely is the first step to shedding light on things.”
Morales grew up biracial, half Hispanic and half white. She felt more connected to her Hispanic heritage when she reached Cal Poly as an undergraduate student.
“I felt that I identified more as Hispanic during my college experience just because I was surrounded by so many white people. Because you have this spark of something else, you feel like you need to protect it or you feel like you want to inform others of it or celebrate it since it’s not being celebrated day to day.”
Jacquelyn Morales
Murals are a “big item on the docket” set out by Cal Poly’s HSI task force, according to one of the task force’s co-chairs and DEI Strategic Planning & Networks Assistant Vice President Beya Makekau.
According to Bradley Kyker, assistant director of Leadership & Service for the Center for Service in Action, Cal Poly Leadership and Service is currently developing a mural to celebrate the Latinx community. The mural will be on a portion of Sierra Madre facing Grand Avenue.
Financial Aid Support
When Fernandez Hernandez called the Federal Student Aid Office about the free application for federal student aid (FAFSA), he cycled between being put on hold and being disconnected.
Giancarlo Fernandez Hernandez said the financial aid form is a hassle to get his parent’s identity confirmed without social security numbers, which stalled him from being able to move forward with the application.
“I’m really stressed because I don’t know if I’m going to get financial aid or not,” said Fernandez Hernandez, a mechanical engineering junior. “It’d be beneficial if there were more support from Cal Poly because I have a lot of questions in completing the form.”
HSI task force co-chair and financial aid counselor Adrienne Garcia-Specht explained that helping students is important for aid like the DREAM Act application, which is a very bureaucratic process for undocumented students.
“Many students do come from backgrounds where they are going to be using resources to pay for college,” Garcia-Specht said.
Beyond Funding
The Office of University Diversity and Inclusion committed over $60,000 to the task force and HSI initiatives in 2022-23, according to the task force’s recommendation. The recommendation lists several areas where the task force lists needs for additional funding.
“There’s not this huge amount that we’re going to be receiving,” Makekau said. “It’s actually going to require a lot of cross-collaboration on campus and to look for opportunities to access additional funds.”
The HSI designation is merely a designation with the possibility of more federal funding. The task force hopes to make “serving” more than just a title.
Some students, like rising business senior Alexis Cruz, believe serving takes the shape of educating all of Cal Poly on their culture being heard amidst the noise.
“It feels like people that speak Spanish are hidden,” rising business senior Alexis Cruz said. “In the sense you kind of do have to look for them. It’s very difficult to find someone who actually spoke Spanish growing up. They kind of understand a little bit more about the culture.”
Cruz wishes this culture was not regulated to Spanish speakers or Latinx community members.
“I’m hoping for events that teach people about the culture and about Spanish,” Cruz said. “That would make more people appreciate the culture. This little room [La CASA] doesn’t get that much attention. It doesn’t have that much of an effect on the masses.”
