Latinx Student Success Center to open in Hale Hall

by Yolanda Zepeda (Managing Director)

Photo Credit: Michael Bustamante

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion is opening its doors to a new Latinx Student Success Center. The Center, located in room 200 of Hale Hall, offers students a lounge space to engage, interact, create, and build community.

Michael Bustamante, program coordinator for the ODI Latinx Student Success program, initiated the project and oversaw renovations of the space with support that he secured through a university Informal Learning Space Grant and matching funds from the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

“Current research shows that Latinx students encounter challenges at Predominantly White Institutions,” said Bustamante, “and often interpret the culture or climate as alienating, isolating, hostile, and unsupportive.” He explained that the antidote for this alienation is cultural nourishment-- replenishing one’s cultural sense of self. Bustamante aims to use the Center to help provide that cultural nourishment, “I envision the Center as a safe, cultural, welcoming space for a student population that may not feel very well-supported elsewhere on campus.”

The ODI Latinx Student Success (LSS) team is dedicated to the academic success and full inclusion of Latinx students on campus. They deliver programming that cultivates Latinx communidad for academic, social, cultural, and professional support. In addition to an early arrival program and year-long leadership series, LSS hosts Conversaciones con Café, a monthly event series that brings Latinx-identifying students together for conversations, activities, and presentations that strengthen academic achievement, promote a sense of identity on campus, and encourage service to the greater Columbus Latinx community.

The Latinx Student Success Center is not officially open yet, due to limitations on in-person gatherings, but members of the campus community are encouraged to visit http://bit. ly/3byU0KG to learn more.

Latinx Student Success Center to open in Hale Hall