{"id":15250,"date":"2020-02-03T19:55:28","date_gmt":"2020-02-04T03:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=15250"},"modified":"2020-02-03T19:55:28","modified_gmt":"2020-02-04T03:55:28","slug":"opinion-is-western-really-going-to-become-hispanic-serving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/opinion-is-western-really-going-to-become-hispanic-serving\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Is Western really going to become Hispanic-serving?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mia Sierra\u00a0<\/strong> | Guest Writer<\/span><\/p>\n

As a Hispanic student, more specifically a Mexican student, one way I like to be involved on campus is by attending M.E.C.H.A. meetings. M.E.C.H.A. \u2014 which stands for <\/span>Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztl\u00e1n \u2014 is a club <\/span>that seeks to promote Chicano unity and empowerment at Western. <\/span>In one meeting, the topic of Western becoming a Hispanic Serving Institute came up. This means that 25% or more of students attending Western identify as Hispanic, which will lead to the university getting more money.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I was surprised when I heard that Western was planning to become Hispanic-serving. First, because I didn\u2019t even think that there were any Hispanic Serving Institutes in the United States, and second, because seemingly no one has talked about it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I checked Western\u2019s student racial demographics online. It shows that 60% are white, while Hispanic\/Latino students make up about 15%. For a school to be eligible to become a Hispanic Serving Institute, the college or university must have 25% or more Hispanic students enrolled, said Gina Ann Garcia in her book\u00a0 \u201cBecoming Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Opportunities for Colleges and Universities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For Western to become Hispanic-serving, administration must find a way to increase Hispanic enrollment from 15% to 25%. In a speech I found online from Sep. 17, 2018 titled \u201cPresident\u2019s State of the University Address Rice Auditorium,\u201d President Rex Fuller addresses Western\u2019s goal to become a Hispanic Serving Institution.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs one of our objectives in this plan, WOU should embrace the goal of becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution. Once achieved, WOU would be the only four-year institution in Oregon with such a designation. To achieve this, we need to see Hispanic enrollment grow from 16% to 25% of total enrollment. Or, we need to grow from just under 800 to 1,200 Hispanic students,\u201d Fuller said.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the need of increasing Hispanic enrollment, I don\u2019t think that Western will be able to achieve a 25% Hispanic student population. The reason I believe this is because during M.E.C.H.A. meetings, many of the students expressed how they don\u2019t feel represented here at Western. They feel that Western lacks the resources for representation and aid for Hispanic\/Latino students. This may cause Hispanic students to transfer to a different university and deter future students from attending Western.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although Fuller talks about the goal for Western to become a Hispanic Serving Institute, I noticed that he doesn\u2019t talk about how Western plans to increase Hispanic enrollment, he just talks about what needs to happen. With no plan of action, is ÀÖ²¥ÊÓƵ really going to be a Hispanic Serving Institute?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contact the author at mcelest01@gmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mia Sierra\u00a0 | Guest Writer As a Hispanic student, more specifically a Mexican student, one way I like to be involved on campus is by attending M.E.C.H.A. meetings. M.E.C.H.A. \u2014 which stands for Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztl\u00e1n \u2014 is a club that seeks to promote Chicano unity and empowerment at Western. In one meeting, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1094,"featured_media":10024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"modified_by":"The Western Howl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1094"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}