The next message was despatched to UC Berkeley college students, workers and school on Thursday:
Immediately marks the beginning of Latinx Heritage Month at UC Berkeley and throughout the nation. This month we honor the various intersectional Latinx comunidades which have outlined our nation, our state and our campus.
At UC Berkeley, our Latinx neighborhood has many moments of connection, thriving and historical past for us to collectively rejoice.
A brand new area for Latinx thriving
We’re happy to rejoice the opening of our campus’ first Latinx Neighborhood Heart on Wednesday, September 28 from 4-6 p.m. This bodily area within the Hearst Fitness center will likely be a spot the place Latinx undergraduates, graduate college students, workers and school can discover a neighborhood that shares related experiences, identities and languages.
The middle is hosted by the Chicanx/Latinx Pupil Growth Workplace, which this yr welcomed Gladys Perez as its first assistant director. College students will co-create programming that will increase a way of belonging and the flexibility to thrive on campus.
This heart has its roots throughout many generations of engaged Latinx college students. We all know multitudes of scholars, together with these in latest graduating lessons, labored carefully with workers and the administration to check and create this area. Campus management is grateful for the collective effort and partnership. We additionally acknowledge the lengthy marketing campaign for entry and visibility for the Latinx neighborhood at UC Berkeley, which started within the Sixties. We’ll help that persevering with work for a few years to come back.
Later this month, the event workplace and the Chicanx Latinx Alumni Affiliation will host an opening bash honoring that legacy. It’ll characteristic 5 days of occasions; greater than 1,000 alumni are anticipated to attend.
Progress within the Latinx Thriving Establishment Initiative
As you learn yesterday, we’ve progress to report in our work to make UC Berkeley a Latinx-Thriving Establishment by 2027, a high precedence of the campus since Chancellor Christ charged us all with the aim in Could 2019.
To fulfill the federally-recognized Hispanic Serving Establishment (HSI) designation, which on our campus is described as turning into a Latinx Thriving Establishment (LTI), at the very least 25% of the enrolled undergraduate college students will likely be Chicanx/Latinx. As of Spring 2022, Chicanx/Latinx undergraduate college students represented 19% of the coed physique, a file excessive for the campus. You’ll be able to study extra concerning the initiative by watching the spring 2022 city corridor. The subsequent city corridor occasion is deliberate for Wednesday, October 19; you’ll be able to RSVP right now.
Making UC Berkeley a spot the place each Latinx scholar — certainly, each scholar — thrives is greater than city halls, numbers, or knowledge. It’s about constructing neighborhood and belonging throughout the campus — in convention rooms, round eating corridor tables, throughout workplace hours or at lab benches.
We wish to rejoice the management and dedication of the workers, college students and school who’re creating this neighborhood of belonging. A brand new “Latinx and Democracy” cluster of school is becoming a member of Berkeley. Workers teams like Alianza proceed to assist workers thrive. Many scholar organizations, just like the Raíces Recruitment and Retention Heart and the Graduate Affiliation of Latinx College students, welcome and help Latinx college students on campus. And this yr, Berkeley may also sponsor 5 college students to attend the annual Hispanic Affiliation of Faculties and Universities convention (HACU) in October, the place Vice Chancellor of Fairness and Inclusion Dania Matos and Affiliate Vice Chancellor and Interim Chief of Workers Fabrizio Mejia will likely be presenting to the HACU management academy fellows.
And whereas we’re pleased with the progress UC Berkeley has made within the final yr, we acknowledge that we nonetheless have an extended method to go earlier than our campus, within the phrases of Chancellor Christ, is a spot the place “all college students have equal entry to Berkeley’s extraordinary alternatives.” Our work — your work, our collective work — continues.
We invite you to learn, hear, study and replicate this month by visiting the Fairness & Inclusion Latinx Heritage Month web page, which options, occasions, information, profiles and different sources to rejoice the month.
En comunidad,
Dania Matos (she/her/ella)
Vice Chancellor for Fairness & Inclusion
Stephen C. Sutton (he/him/his)
Vice Chancellor for Pupil Affairs
Lisa García Bedolla (she/her/ella)
Vice Provost for Graduate Research and Dean of the Graduate Division
Victoria Plaut (she/her/ella)
Vice Provost for the School
Oliver O’Reilly (he/him/his)
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Schooling
Latinx Thriving Initiative Steering Committee Member
Eugene Whitlock (he/him/his)
Chief Folks and Tradition Officer
Lupe Gallegos-Diaz (she/her/ella)
Director, Chicanx Latinx Educational Pupil Growth Heart
Facilities for Instructional Justice & Neighborhood Engagement
