Lunchtime College Green rally begins Latino Awareness Week

Salsa merengue music greeted passersby on College Green during lunchtime as Latino Awareness Week kicked off with a small, yet spirited rally. Olga Rubio, an assistant dean of the College, keynoted the 15-minute rally, attended by 15 students. Rubio opened the speech praising the achievements of latino student organizations. She specifically cited Associacion Cultural de Estudiantes Latinoamericanos, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, the Esquina Latina and the University's Latino fraternity and sorority, which she said have helped students to build pride in their backgrounds. Rubio said that education gives latino students the framework to solve societal problems. "Through education, students can learn to translate problems into responses," Rubio said. Rubio also stressed that diversity can "add richness to a group." "Students have learned to examine diversity in a more productive way," Rubio said. Most importantly, latino organizations have brought latino studies to the attention of the administration, therefore giving them the opportunity to make their presence known on campus. Latino Awareness Week is organized and sponsored by Sigma Lambda Upsilon -- Senoritas Latinas Unidas, a Latino sorority with five members founded at the University in the spring of 1990. Also scheduled for this week is a speech by Angela Jorge, an associate professor of Hispanic Studies at the State University of New York at Old Westbury. The speech will begin tomorrow at 5 p.m. in the Houston Hall Smith-Penniman Room. Jorge will talk about Christopher Columbus, and the role his Spanish identity is playing in the current multiculturalism debate. Latino Awareness Week will end on Saturday night with a party in Houston Hall's Bodek Lounge from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. for the entire University community. Latino Awareness Week is being held this week to coincide with National Latino Heritage Month which runs from September 15 to October 15.

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