Find La Casa Latina a home

La Casa Latina will have its second home in a nere two years of existence. We hope it is the last move for some time. Now comes word that the center will be displaced from its current location at the close of the academic year, moving to an as-yet-undetermined campus location to make way for the relocating Christian Association. Currently, the center -- dedicated to offering mentoring, leadership opportunities and cultural, social and academic support for Penn's Latino community -- is housed at 37th and Chestnut streets. The center's impending move, triggered by the long-awaited sale of the CA's current 36th and Locust building to the University, is an entirely predictable eventuality for any campus group. And in this case, the eventuality was not only predictable but preordained. La Casa Latina officials had been told that their present home would be a temporary one. We wholeheartedly support the decision to get the center up and running in a temporary home. Emphasis was rightly placed on making the La Casa Latina's resources available to students, even given the knowledge that the center would have to relocate. Furthermore, we are fully confident that University officials will find the center a new home of a size and location appropriate to its mission. But wherever the center finds its next home, we hope it is allowed to remain at that location for the foreseeable future. Because to truly reach its potential, the center needs a permanent home to call its own. It is often pointed out that the number of Latinos is exploding, perhaps reaching 25 percent of the total population by the middle of the next century. Penn has done well to move now to build a center, both in response to present needs and to the likelihood that the community the center serves will expand dramatically in years to come. We look forward to attending a further set of ceremonies for La Casa Latina next fall -- this time, as the center moves into a permanent home.