Casa Latina opens in Smith

Casa Latina opened June 8 in Smith Memorial Student Union. Geared toward serving Latino students, the cultural center is a goalpost of Portland State President Wim Wiewel’s Éxito program.

The opening ceremony took place in the Multicultural Student Center. About 100 PSU students, faculty members and fans attended. Local TV crews were there, too.

Wiewel’s speech was the keynote address.

The Éxito program was launched by Wiewel in October to increase the attendance and matriculation of Latino students at PSU. Strategies include reaching out to students at middle schools and high schools, supporting students who transfer to PSU from community college and providing support to graduates.

A partnership between Éxito and the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber is part of that support. Every year, HMC commits hundreds of thousands of dollars to scholarships for La tinos in higher education and administrators of PSU’s Multicultural Student Services are working with Chamber officials to create mentorships and internships.

Creating a Latino student center was prioritized in the Éxito report, but five Latino students staged a protest in Wiewel’s office this spring, claiming that Casa Latina was too slow to materialize.

Mario Quintana, a recipient of one of the equal access grants disbursed by the Éxito program, began the inauguration ceremony by detailing the contributions of Casa Latina.

Another access grant recipient, a recent Roosevelt High School graduate, also gave a speech. PSU Chief Diversity Officer Jilma Meneses, who pushed for the grant, hopes that Casa Latina will help connect the grant awardees to other PSU Latinos.

“It will be a place where students can come to study and seek advice,” Meneses said. “I hope it builds community and personal and cultural identities for newcomers.”

The artwork adorning the walls of Casa Latina represents the educational journeys of Latinos and is meant to encourage Latinos who may be new to higher education.

“Students often don’t have people in their families who know what that experience is like,” Meneses said.

Diego Hernandez, a graduate student in social work and the center’s coordinator, will spend the next year planning the center’s activities as per the goals outlined by the program report.

He’ll be joined this summer by a group of incoming equal access students.

“We want to involve students in the process of drafting the center’s mission statement,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez and his team will devise a plan for a mentorship program and draft resource guides for new students.

The newly inaugurated Casa Latina boasts four computers, a printer, and a Smartboard.

Located in Room 229 next to the Multicultural Center in Smith Memorial Student Union, the center will host an open house this fall during
New Student Week.