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SALT LAKE CITY — The University of Utah has launched a relatively new advisory body to help strengthen the recruitment and retention of Latino students, faculty, administrators and staff.
Generally speaking, the underlying goal of Latino advisory committees is to expand the range of perspectives and have a seat at the table in the university setting.
Ivette López, a professor of public health at the U.S. and chair of the committee, said Latino faculty, staff and students “make tremendous contributions wherever they go, including the University of Utah.” Those outside the Latino community, she continued, “benefit from the influx of … new ideas, different ideas, or different perspectives.”
In addition to recruiting and retaining talent, the committee is exploring the idea of creating a physical place on college campuses that is a “safe space” where Latinos can gather and commiserate.
“We have other places where people meet that are culturally minority, right?” Lopez said, referring to facilities like the Black Cultural Center and the American Indian Resource Center. “Yet we don’t have that for the Latino population yet.”
In an effort to boost its profile, the United States issued a statement late last week announcing the existence of the Latino Advisory Council, even though the council has actually been in existence for a year. Jasen Lee, a university spokesman, said Lopez “is leading an effort to increase awareness of the Latino community within the greater Ute community.”
What’s more, Lopez noted, the committee’s members — made up of U.S. staff, administrators and students — carry the day-to-day responsibilities of the university. Laying the foundation for a new institution takes time.
One of the advisory committee’s first steps will be to develop a plan outlining strategies to support Latino recruitment and retention. Collecting reliable data on the number of Hispanics in the United States will be part of these initial efforts. Broadly speaking, though, Lopez said, “there’s not that much diversity or representation,” at least at a level commensurate with Utah’s growing Latino population.
“What can we do to increase those numbers — more faculty, more staff, more students?” she asked.
The perceptions and attitudes of U.S. Latinos will also be reflected in the initial efforts of the committee, which will advise Marian Villarreal, U.S. vice president and director of the University’s Division of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
According to Data USA, as of 2021, 12.7% of University of Utah students are Hispanic or Latino — this includes both full-time and part-time undergraduate and graduate students. Data USA is a joint initiative of international auditing and consulting firm Deloitte, data visualization company Datawheel, and MIT Media Lab professor Cesar Hidalgo.
As of last fall, 8.1% of the 26,289 university faculty and staff were Latino, according to U.S. human resources data available online.
Meanwhile, the state’s Latino population will account for 15.1% of Utah’s population by 2022, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
“something magical”
As for efforts to create some kind of space for Latinos on campus, Lopez said the goal is to create a place where Latinos can hold academic or cultural events, take advantage of university services and speak Spanish without feeling self-conscious.
“The thing is, there’s something magical about being around people like you, you know? Not to mention the safety I mentioned before…it’s okay to speak Spanish here,” she said.
Lopez noted in a Latino Advisory Council for America press release that Latino students can still face bias. The university’s statement called the institution a “tangible commitment” to representing Latinos and meeting their unique needs.
University officials dodged questions about HB261’s potential impact on Latino advisory committees. HB261, which takes effect July 1, is an initiative approved during the recently concluded 2024 legislative session to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at Utah’s public universities; that is, programming specifically designed to Reaching traditionally underserved students, including students of color.
Supporters of HB261, however, said during debate on the measure that it would not require the closure of the university’s cultural center. HB261 seeks to integrate white people into the student body and allow them to benefit from a variety of programs that typically fall under equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives, such as programs that help first-generation college students adjust to college environments.
The debate over HB261 has become heated at times, with House and Senate Republicans staunchly supporting the measure and Democrats staunchly opposed to it. However, Lopez sees the Latino Advisory Council as a positive because it can help the United States.
“We love the University of Utah and we want it to get better and better,” she said.
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