Third Annual Latino Education and Advocacy Days (LEAD)

Deborah Santiago, Excelencia's vice president for policy and research, will participate in a panel discussion, Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) 
 Cultural Citizenship: Challenges for Transformation.

Description:

Colleges and universities designated as Hispanic Serving 
 Institutions (HSI), with at least 25% of the students identifying 
 as Hispanic, are poised to rigorously address complex and 
multifaceted social issues as they apply to the growing 
 demographic. Hispanic students and faculty at HSI designated 
institutions have been and, with increased support, can engage in 
front line struggles to increase Hispanic student success. 
However, while the HSI designation plays a significant role in the 
historical trajectory of Hispanic education in the U.S., educators 
and policy-makers are troubled by the dismal success rate of this 
ethnographic populace in education, ranging from disproportionate  high school push out rates through low college graduation rates  and even into the professoriate, with less than four percent of 
 doctoral degrees being awarded to Hispanics.

The practice of 
privileging HSI designated colleges and universities with additional competitive-grant funding begs the question: how do 
these practices serve Hispanics in and out of higher education  institutions? 
The HSI designation was created to compensate for existing  educational disparities and recognize the educational achievement 
gaps of Hispanics. Educational inequality is a legacy of unfair 
practices such as unequal educational funding, unfair housing 
practices, and employment discrimination. The HSI designation is a 
call to action, it is not exclusively summoning Hispanics, it is a 
notice to higher education institutions. HSIs should bear a 
 message and a mandate, a directive of inclusivity, of 
 collectivity, of integration, representation, and accountability.