Chicanx/Latinx students on the rise at UC Riverside

Описание: UC Riverside's Chicanx/Latinx student population growth was a grassroots effort, led by the students themselves over 50 years ago. In 1968 UCR had around 100 Chicanx students enrolled. That was 14 years after UC Riverside, or UCR, was established.

Now, the Chicanx/Latinx student population is nearing 10,000, making it the largest ethnic group on campus — and making UCR one of the most diverse universities in the country. This population growth was anything but coincidental.

“Before the administration developed a plan, before they decided to focus on recruiting Hispanic/Latino students, it was the students themselves doing the work,” said Carlos Cortés, retired professor and the Edward A. Dickson Emeritus Professor with the Department of History. Cortés started working at UCR in 1968, when he became the second Chicano professor on campus.

There were other Latino professors from South America, the Caribbean, and Spain, but they did not identify as Chicano, Cortés said. A Chicano is a person of Mexican descendance born in the United States.

“In the mid 1970s, the Chicanos were out recruiting themselves. They would go home and talk to others about why they had to go to college, about what UCR offered,” Cortés said.

UCR’s Chicanx/Latinx student population is now 38.3%, followed by 30.4% Asian, and 13.2% white.

In 2008 UCR became the first Hispanic Serving Institution within the UC system. This federal designation acknowledged that UCR has an enrollment of undergraduate full-time equivalent students that is at least 25 percent Hispanic.

The Chicanx/Latinx terms have recently been adapted by some to represent a more gender-neutral and inclusive identifier for these very diverse groups. Here at UCR, Chicano Student Programs uses Chicanx/Latinx to celebrate a diverse student population that identifies with the terms.

https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2020/09...
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