Latino students demand changes

The Latino Coalition led a protest aimed at increasing Latino student representation. Although 10 percent of the United States population consists of Latinos, U.S.-born Latinos make up just 3.8 percent of Penn's students and faculty members, according to an umbrella group of 14 Latino political and cultural groups. That and other statistics led about 20 students representing the Latino Coalition to march around campus yesterday, protesting what they described as Penn's failure to address issues such as Latino recruitment and retention and tuition costs that are too high for many Latino students. Watched by reporters from the major city newspapers, the students began their march from High Rise East at noon to deliver a four-page complaint to six University offices, including that of University President Judith Rodin and the Undergraduate Admissions Office. Last week, two member groups -- La Asociacion Cultural de Estudiantes Latino Americanos and El Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan -- withdrew from the United Minorities Council, saying the group lacked a political focus. "We are here to protest the University's unwillingness to ameliorate the dire situation of Latino students at Penn and to express our anger that the goals of the University's minority-permanence plan and affirmative-action policies have not been met," declared Amy Maldonado, a second-year Law Student and MEChA member. The complaint she waved in her hand echoed her concern. It stated that "we [Latino students] are in a state of crisis on this campus." Spokespeople for Rodin and Interim Provost Michael Wachter said administrators would not comment until they had read the complaint. The statement outlined the problems faced by the Latino community. It demanded a closer correlation between Latino numbers at Penn and in the national population. The complaint also stated that "active recruitment of Latinos is currently far too limited and must be expanded." The complaint also accused the University of "inflating the number of Latino students" by adding in international students from Latin American countries. But representatives from the Medical School, Law School and School of Engineering and Applied Science denied lumping the groups together. "We do not add students from other countries into our pool of underrepresented U.S. groups," said Gaye Sheffler, the Medical School's director of admissions and financial aid. Admissions officials from the Undergraduate Admissions Office as well as the Medical, Law and Engineering schools refused to release any statistics regarding Latino admission, matriculation or retention rates. Also, the complaint bemoaned the fact that out of the 1,800-member standing faculty at the University, only 23 professors are Latino. "Without Latino faculty available as mentors, Latino students feel unsupported and often misunderstood," said Randy Quezada, a College freshman and the incoming president of ACELA. Additionally, "the students feel that Penn tuition is prohibitively high," said Amy Fernadez, an Engineering senior and president of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. "Better financial aid packages are imperative," said the statement. The Latino Coalition would also like to see a vice provost for Latino affairs and a Latino Resource Center instated on campus. The students seemed determined to continue their efforts. "The only way to make anything happen at this university is to make noise," Maldonado said. "Otherwise, nothing changes."