The Status of Latinos at

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The Status of Latinos at
The Second Latino Ivy League Conference November
10-12, 2006
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Introduction

• Brown Latino Student Body
• University Structure
• Third World Center
• Latino History at Brown
• Latino Organizations
• Latino Student Programs
• Latino Administrators and Faculty
• Brown University Latino Alumni Committee
• Current Issues

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Brown Student Body

• Latinos make up 8 of the undergraduate student
  body.
• Retention and Graduation Rates for Latinos
  reflect overall University rates.
• Acceptance rates for Latino students are much
  higher than the 17 university acceptance rate.
• Latinos have the highest matriculation rate of
  any students of color. Numbers fluctuate between
  the high 40s and the low 50s. The overall
  matriculation rate for Brown is 58.

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University Structure
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Third World Center
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Why Third World?

• Students first began using the term "Third
  World" over "minority" because of the negative
  connotations of inferiority and powerlessness
  with which the word "minority" is often
  associated. Although the term "Third World" may
  have negative socioeconomic connotations outside
  of Brown, Third World students here continue to
  use the term in the context originating form the
  Civil Rights Movement.Frantz Fanon, author of
  The Wretched of the Earth (1961), urged readers
  to band together against oppression and
  colonialism, by pioneering a "Third Way" meaning
  an alternative to the ways of the first world
  (U.S. Europe) and also the second world (USSR
  Eastern Europe). When students adopt the term
  "Third World", they use it in the sense of a
  cultural model of empowerment and liberation.
  Brown students of color continue to use the
  term "Third World" in a similar fashion to
  describe a consciousness which recognizes the
  commonalities and links shared by their diverse
  communities. Using the term "Third World" reminds
  students of the power they have in coalescing,
  communicating, and uniting across marginalized
  communities to create a safer and more open place
  for all individuals. This consciousness at Brown
  also reflects a right, a willingness, and a
  necessity for people of color and others to
  define themselves instead of being defined by
  others.The concept of "Third World" has special
  meaning for minority students at Brown. It is not
  to be confused with the economic definition of
  the term used commonly in our society today, but
  understood as a term that celebrates diverse
  cultures.

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Third World Center

• The TWC emerged in response to the needs of
  students following protests in 1968 and 1975.
• Created in 1976, the TWC at Brown was designed to
  serve the interests and meet the needs of all
  students of color and to promote racial and
  ethnic pluralism in the Brown community.
• Originally housed in the basement of the Africana
  Studies Department, the TWC relocated to
  Partridge Hall in 1986, across the street from
  the Main Green, as a result of the student
  protest of 1985.
• The TWC sponsors over 250 lectures and programs
  throughout the academic year to which all Brown
  students are invited.
• Students use the TWC for organization meetings,
  study space, receptions, and other
  social/cultural events.

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Third World Center

• Staff
• Director / Associate Dean of the College
• Karen E. McLaurin-Chesson, 74
• Coordinator (part-time) / Assistant Dean of
  Student Life
• Kisa Takesue, 88
• Administrative Assistant
• Anne Marie Ponte
• Graduate Proctor
• -Vanessa Yong

• Student Programmers
• Every year various students program cultural
  weeks and months
• While all students support each cultural month,
  Latinos are most involved in the programming of
• Latino History Month
• Semana Chicana
• Puerto Rican Heritage Week
• Caribbean Heritage Week

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Third World Center

• TWTP began as a result of the 1968 student
  protest for more support for students of color at
  Brown.
• In the summer of 1969, the Transitional Summer
  Program served as an academic enrichment
  opportunity for mostly black students.
• Today, TWTP serves as a pre-orientation program
  for all first years of color to bond and form a
  community of color at Brown and focuses on
  discussions on issues of race, gender, class, and
  sexuality.

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Third World Center

• The TWC is the base for the Minority Peer
  Counseling Program. The program started as a big
  sibling program in 1973 and has since become
  residential. MPCs live in first year dorms to
  aid in the adjustment to college and have a
  particular focus on diversity issues.

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Latino History at Brown
to the 70s

• Geronimo Urmeneta, a Chilean, was the first Latin
  American to graduate from Brown in 1835. He
  returned to Chile after graduation.
• We have not found the first Latino who graduated
  from Brown.
• We trace Latino activity to the early 1970s, but
  numbers were very low.
• In 1974, the few Latinos at Brown formed the
  Latin American Students Organization.

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Latino History at Brown
the 80s

• In 1980, Puerto Rican students founded La
  Federación de Estudiantes Puertorriqueños
  founded.
• In the early 80s, Brown had two Chicana
  administrators.
• Latinos took a more active role in the student
  protest of 1985.
• As a result of the protest, Dean Armando
  Bengochea was hired in 1986.
• In 1987, Mercedes Domenech became an Admission
  Officer and Dean in the Medical School. She
  works specifically to recruit Latinos.
• The Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in
  America created in 1988.

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Latino History at Brown
the 80s

• In 1980, Brown implemented the Latino Recruitment
  Plan.
• Number of Latino Matriculants in
• 1980 17
• 1981 28
• 1988 59
• 1989 81
• 1991 83
• 1997 107
• 2003 108
• 2005 - 122

Mercedes Domenech hired.
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Latino History at Brown
the 90s

• Chicano students revive MEChA in 1992.
• Students for Admissions and Minority Aid take
  over University Hall in 1992. Latinos make up a
  large number of the protestors. Brown brings in
  the police and some students are taken away in
  handcuffs.
• In 1993, Latino students protest the dismissal of
  Bill Bailey, director of Equal Employment
  Opportunities/Affirmative Action.
• MEZCLA, Latino Performing Arts Troupe founded by
  Elizabeth Garcia, 94, in 1993.
• In 1999, Brown appointed Salvador Mena as
  Assistant Dean of Student Life. His duties
  include advising and supporting Latino Students.

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Latino History at Brown
the 00s

• In 2000, the Brown University Latino Alumni
  Council (BULAC) is founded and creates
  connections with undergraduates.
• In 2001, Ruth Simmons becomes President of the
  University and dedicates her Academic Enrichment
  Plan to diversifying Brown.
• Brown holds the first ever New England Latino
  Leadership Conference in 2003.
• March 11, 2004, Latinos present the Latino
  Initiatives for Progress to the administration.
  Goals include hiring a Latino dean and
  establishing a Latino Center.
• The LIP only succeeds in re-hiring a dean who
  dedicates part of her time to Latino issues when
  Dean Mena leaves at the end of the year.
• November 2004, Latino organizations come together
  with BULAC for GALA, a celebration of 30 years of
  Latino History at Brown.
• Spring 2005, 4 students came together to revive
  SOMOS, the Latino Literary Magazine.

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Latino Organizations
Latin American Students Organization

• LASO's goals are to
• bring the Latino Community together
• address the concerns of the Latino Community
• foster cultural awareness among Brown Students
• reach out to the community outside of Brown
• We fulfill our goals by
• holding cultural events
• bringing speakers to Brown
• doing community service in Providence
• working with alumni
• having social/community building events.

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Latino Organizations
La Federación de Estudiantes Puertorriqueños

• FEPs goals are to
• focus on the support of our peers
• stay connected with the Puerto Rican community
  outside of Brown in the surrounding areas
• to keep current on issues that concern us on and
  off campus
• both sharing our culture with and educating the
  greater Brown community through events,
  especially during Puerto Rican Culture Week

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Latino Organizations
Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán

• MEChA is an advocacy and support group for all
  Latino students at Brown. MEChA leads discussions
  that revolve around various issues that affect
  Latinos nationally as well as at Brown. MEChA
  also functions as a political, social, cultural,
  and educational group. It is a member of ECCSF
  (East Coast Chicano Student Federation) and MEChA
  Este Atzlán Region.

• While MEChA began in 1976, it died in 1981 and
  was revived in 1992.

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Latino Organizations
MEZCLA, Latino Performing Arts Troupe

• MEZCLA has three main goals
• through our dance, theater, music, art, and
  poetry we strive to convey and at the same time
  teach the beauty, diversity, and richness of the
  Latino culture to the Brown community at large
• through our cultural differences we hope to learn
  from each other and create a fun and supportive
  social environment where the interchange of ideas
  may take place freely
• through our efforts we hope to organize social
  and cultural events that offer Brown students a
  venue to perform their talents.

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Latino Organizations
Latino Greeks

• Brown is part of the Delta chapter of Sigma
  Lambda Upsilon, Señoritas Latinas Unidas
  Sorority, Incorporated and the Zeta Chapter of La
  Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda, Latino
  Fraternity, Incorporated.
• Both chapters are based in Providence.
• Although Brown started bother chapters, we
  currently have very little representation in both
  chapters.
• Currently, we have one Lambda and two Señoritas
  on campus they do not have a large presence in
  the Latino community.

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Latino Organizations
SOMOS, Latino Literary Magazine

• Goals
• SOMOS encourages all aspiring artists and writers
  to contribute their poetry, essays, documents,
  and all types of artwork such as sketching,
  photography etc.
• An issue of SOMOS will be distributed every
  semester with collaborated pieces of Brown
  students, faculty, staff and alumni, and the
  Latino community in the Providence community.
• SOMOS began in 1995, but died in 2002.
• In the Spring of 2005, four students came
  together to revive SOMOS.
• Currently, they struggle with funding and
  producing an actual magazine.
• They publish Adelante, the Latino Student
  Programs newsletter, to gain production
  experience.

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Latino Student Programs

• The dean partly responsible for Latino Student
  Programs, Yolanda Castillo, 95, works out of the
  Office of Student Life.
• Brown also hires 2 student workers to assist
  her.
• Goals
• Assist first-year Latino/a students with their
  transition to Brown
• Collaboratively contribute to the quality of
  community for Latino students
• Provide shared spaces for on-going learning,
  dialogue, and leadership development
• Provide advise, advocacy, counseling, mentoring,
  support and referral services
• Raise campus awareness about Latino/a issue
• Connect Latino students with the greater
  Providence Latino community.

• Programs
• Conexiones
• Mentoring Program
• Latino Luncheons
• Community
• Retreats

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Latino Faculty