Sharing a cultural heritage doesn't mean students hail from the same country.
Unfortunately, many Latino students historically have felt tension between American- and foreign-born members of Penn Latino community, said Latino Coalition President and College sophomore Cristian Barrios.
He explained that LC is attempting to increase collaboration between constituent groups who share a similar cultural identity but come from different countries.
Penn has one of the highest percentages of international students in the Ivy League. According to Penn's undergraduate admissions web site, in fall 2008, 3,544 international students were enrolled at Penn. Of these, 392 were freshman, and 9 percent of the freshman class were from Central and South America and the Caribbean.
Many students who were born and raised in the United States still heavily identify with their native countries, said College senior Lissette Duran, founder of the Grupo Quisqueyano and president of Cipactli, the Latino honors society.
But with over 23 Penn groups comprising LC, she said many members have difficulty finding common ground.
LC's stated goal is "to develop a unified voice and a comprehensive strategy to deal with under-representation," and the groups' individual objectives include cultural, professional, honor, arts and social purposes.
But this mission does not address many of the tensions that have arisen.
Duran explained that specific differences between cultures based in the same countries may account for some of this friction.
She emphasized small points that create a larger difference, such as differing colloquial phrases used by international and domestic students.
Duran added that the difference is not necessarily a bad thing, but that it should be addressed so these groups can find a way to better unify students who share the same heritage.
Barrios agreed that a cultural disparity exists between domestic and international students but insists it is merely a difference and not necessarily a conflict.
Barrios plans to encourage groups within LC to collaborate for future events, with a particular emphasis on promoting the partnership of groups that may not otherwise work together.
These pairings may include groups that are primarily domestic with generally international, but more active groups with those that are less so.
However, not all students feel this tension. College senior and Mex@Penn President Maya Dadoo stated that, as an international student from Mexico City, she has never felt any noticeable gap between the two groups.
"Penn has students and faculty from so many nationalities that I would consider it strange if one of them felt these 'tensions,'" she said. "Penn's domestic students are sufficiently open-minded to not treat us differently."
Barrios' goal may become reality, since most groups are open to working toward further collaboration.
"The first thing was just realizing there is a difference," said Duran.
