Students have seen flyers on campus recently for Latin American speakers because September is Hispanic Heritage Month, a time for celebrating Hispanic culture.
The student-run organization OLAS (Organization of Latin American Students) is responsible for guest speaker Andres Lara, “The Cuban Guy,” and author Jimmy Cabrera with his book, What’s In Your Backpack? They were selected by OLAS to help enrich UIS with Latin American speakers.
Juan Rodriguez is the vice president of OLAS. He is a senior with a major in History. Rodriguez said he joined the organization because, “I really felt like OLAS can make changes, and I wanted to be a part of that.”
Rodriguez is of Mexican descent and from South Chicago. He said joining a Hispanic organization on campus gave him a “homey” feeling, and many others join for that reason. “So if [Hispanic freshmen] are feeling homesick, they’ll be around people who speak Spanish,” he said.
Rodriguez said Hispanic Heritage Month is “really about independence. The month revolves around Puerto Rico’s Independence Day and then Mexico’s Independence Day; it’s just a chance for us to really connect with our heritage, which is hard to do sometimes when we‘re in a different country.”
Concerning Hispanic Heritage Month personally, Rodriguez had this to say: “Basically the year is Hispanic Heritage Month for me. It’s my culture. I eat the same foods as I would eat this month and I listen to the same music.” He said the only difference for him in September is his desire to promote Hispanic culture to non-Hispanic people. He encourages non-Hispanics to join OLAS.
“Anyone who wants to come is more than welcome to come. We really enjoy it when people who are not Hispanic come to OLAS because they show interest. We really love that.”
Rodriguez also emphasized that OLAS is not done with events once Hispanic Heritage Month is over.
“We’re currently figuring out new events and planning fundraisers after September. Just because Hispanic Heritage Month will be over doesn’t mean we’ll stop celebrating the Hispanic Culture. We‘re going to remain very active on campus, hopefully engaging the UIS community,” he said.
Rodriguez was proud that the number of OLAS members has “doubled” this year, and OLAS’s faculty advisor and Assistant Prof. in Sociology and Anthropology, Hinda Seif, is excited by the increase.
“This year we’ve really had a jump in Latino Freshman enrollment,” she said. “According to the statistics I published in the Office of Institutional Research, it looks like we have 44 Hispanic freshman, and that’s about 16% (4 out of 25 students). So yes, there has been an increase, especially this year.”
Seif has been conducting research on Latinos and/or immigrants in Illinois, along with advising OLAS members. She is pleased with this month’s promotion in Hispanic culture.
“Latinos are now the largest minority group in the United States. And it’s a chance to learn more about this exciting population,” she said.
“One reason why it is exciting to have more Latinos on campus is, just as every culture, it brings a lot of cultural richness to our campus in foods, music, different religious perceptive, experiences; and that’s wonderful.”
Seif teaches Latino studies on campus. “In the Spring I’m going to be teaching a course called Latino USA in the Sociology and Anthropology Department. Students learn about histories of many of the countries that Latino populations come from.”
The class focuses on the diversity among Latinos. “People may tend to think of Mexican ancestry when they think of Latinos, and that is the dominant group in Illinois and in the United States. But there are many Latino groups in the United States. We have a long history with Puerto Rican communities and we have Guatemalan communities here. It’s important to understand that Latinos are very diverse ethnically and culturally.”
Seif is currently teaching Women & Gender in Mexico & US, a 100 level course that she’ll also teach in the next Fall semester.
For students interested in joining OLAS, contact the Diversity Center. OLAS can also be reached through Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/OLASatUIS?filter=1.
