Celebrating Hispanic Heritage: Cal Poly Arts and ASI work to serve Hispanic students
National Hispanic Heritage Month is an annual celebration aimed at honoring and recognizing Hispanic and Latinx roots and contributions in the U.S. This year, it took place from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, and Cal Poly celebrated this culturally rich month through several community and arts events as it works towards becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI).
“At Cal Poly Arts, we feel it’s really important to highlight Latinx Artists, whether it’s during a given month or just throughout our seasons,” Cal Poly Arts Director Molly Clark said.
Every year, the Cal Poly Arts program hosts a full itinerary of shows at the Performing Arts Center (PAC) on campus. Their events showcase performers with various musical backgrounds, including those intending to highlight Hispanic culture.
Two Latin-American artists, Lupita Infante and Flor De Toloache, were featured in this lineup. Infante performed on Oct. 22, and Flor De Toloache on Nov. 28.
Clark said she wants the arts to make Cal Poly’s Latinx students feel represented in a predominantly white institution, and to give white students opportunities to connect with art and people who are different from them.
“The intention is that we’re providing enough variety, enough diversity in the genres that we’re presenting and the identities that our artists represent, that everybody can find something that will appeal to them somewhere in there,” Clark said.
Outside of the arts, Cal Poly’s Associated Students, Incorporated (ASI) said it aims to connect students with a more inclusive college experience through various programs and services, including multicultural events.
ASI’s assistant director of Public Relations, Leadership, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), Megan Schuler-Jones, described how ASI celebrates Hispanic heritage.
“Currently, we have student government members that are working with campus partners to see what kind of multicultural events they can collaborate on,” Schuler-Jones said.
Schuler-Jones said beyond Hispanic Heritage Month, ASI is considering hosting a celebration of Dia De Los Muertos and learning about other holidays celebrated within Hispanic culture.
ASI has hosted events before for Dia De Los Muertos, annually from Nov. 1-2, such as sugar skull decorating in the Craft Center and events in collaboration with Culture Fest.
“We want to make sure that we’re planning ahead or being really intentional with what we include in our strategic plan,” Schuler-Jones said about Cal Poly’s journey to becoming an HSI.
Cal Poly’s Office of University Diversity and Inclusion (OUDI) held the “¡Adelante! Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) Symposium: Pathway to Becoming an HSI” event on Oct. 17 with keynote speaker Dolores Huerta.
“That’s a great example of kind of an event that they put on to the whole campus — students, faculty, staff — to really make sure that we’re up to date with what’s going on with HSI prep and that we can really be utilizing a lot of these strategies in our programming,” Schuler-Jones said.
The OUDI created the Latinx Center last November. According to their website, the Latinx Center is “a crucial step in efforts to increase holistic support for our Latinx students.”
Cal Poly’s Latinx Center for Academic Success and Achievement, also known as La CASA, opened last November to “foster belonging and provide holistic support to students who identify as Latinx so they thrive while at Cal Poly,” according to a campus news release.
In 2022, Cal Poly also established an HSI Task Force that provides the university with recommendations on how to serve its Latinx community.
According to the OUDI, HSI designation is given when a university’s total percentage of Latinx undergraduate students reaches 25%. In 2022, the amount of Latinx undergraduate students enrolled at Cal Poly was 21.1%.
“Becoming an HSI is a critical step in its effort to be a premier polytechnic institution,” the OUDI said on its website. “Cal Poly strives to be a university that enhances student success by creating a culturally rich environment of diversity and inclusion, academic excellence and social responsibility.”
Computer science senior Pablo Gonzalez said since he arrived at Cal Poly, the university has improved its celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month on campus. However, he believes that there is still more that can be done.
“I hope, you know, as the school continues to pursue that HSI name or title and all the stuff that comes along with it, I hope they continue to do more and more for the students, especially as the Latinx and Hispanic population keeps becoming a bigger part of the school,” Gonzalez said.
La CASA’s services and events calendar can be found on their Instagram, and all Cal Poly Arts events can be found on their website.
