Report: U. lags on Latino issues

The Latino Coalition held a packed forum yesterday in Robertson Hall to discuss ways to combat the perceived underrepresentation and fragmentation of Latinos in the University community.

A report released in September by the coalition — which includes the Chicano Caucus, Accion Latina, Cuban-American Undergraduate Student Association and the Latino Graduate Students' Association — called for increased academic offerings in Latino studies, including a dedicated program or major.

Oscar Castro '09 said that the seven other Ivies have Latino studies programs or departments, with all except for one offering a major in the program. "The lack of intellectual respect paid to Latinos at this University is a deficit at the school," he said. "A program in Latino studies isn't just about affirmation for Latino students. It is about Princeton students learning about how America is changing in this day and age."

The Latino studies program would be geared toward the Latino experience in America, as opposed to the Latin American studies program, which focuses on politics and culture there.

"Dialogues have been very helpful and positive," said David Abalos, a longtime lecturer in POL 333: Latino Politics in the United States. "There needs to be more actual achievements that can give us hope that we are here and that we can make a change."

The University launched its $1.75 billion capital campaign last week, but there was no mention of Latino studies in the campaign's table of needs, said Victoria Laws '08, the Chicano Caucus' publicity chair and an organizer of the forum.

But Laws has taken her own small steps toward an "actual achievement," as Abalos called it, mentioning that she is working on a proposal for a seminar on Chicano feminism to be taught by NYU professor Arlene Davila.

Another grievance outlined in the report and discussed at the forum is the lack of campus-life programs aimed at Latinos.

Funds have been allocated for a Latino administrator in the new Carl A. Fields Center building at 58 Prospect Ave., Laws said. But as of now, there is no dedicated space for Latino groups to meet and work, in the center or elsewhere.

The event yielded many comments and questions from the audience concerning how the changes will be implemented and what needs to be done to execute the recommendations.

The forum comes after a week of meetings between students, faculty and administrators on how to best implement the recommendations. Laws said that "committees will be created to tackle each of the priorities outlined in today's forum and in the report."

The September document, "Report on the Status of Latino/as at Princeton University," found that Latinos on campus gave "low ratings to racial diversity, race relations, racial integration, and social life as compared with their peers."

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The report also noted that the Latino graduation rate from the University is lower than average — 90 percent, compared with 97 percent among all undergraduates. Princeton is the only Ivy with such a substantial gap, the report said.