A Wave of Hispanic Students Reshapes a Historically Black College
*Another story of Latino transformation. The wave of change is inevitable. Latinos are changing and being changed in the U.S. VL
By Katherine Mangan, The Chronicle of Higer Education
Cinco de Mayo is a low-key celebration at Huston-Tillotson University, a historically black institution that began in the late 1800s to educate freed slaves and their children.
But it has taken on a more personal significance for a growing number of students at this small, private institution where one in five students today is Hispanic.
[pullquote]Sagging enrollments and financial troubles have prompted the colleges to court students who might never have been on their radar before.[/pullquote]On May 5, students mingled over tamales and nachos in an academic hall where a poster of Martin Luther King hung alongside pictures of mariachi dancers, Spanish-language newspapers, and an article about the changing ethnic mix of historically black colleges and universities.
Diversity has always been celebrated at the 105 public and private historically black campuses across the country, but it’s become an economic imperative today. Sagging enrollments and financial troubles have prompted the colleges to court students who might never have been on their radar before.
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[Photo by tracey/Flickr]
