On April 3rd Que Ondee Sola gave presentations aimed at getting more support for the Latino/a students place in the upcoming cultural center. As Xavier Luis Burgos wrote in the Que Ondee Sola periodical, “It is absolutely no secret that for decades the Latina/o students at the Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) have been clamoring for a Latina/o Cultural & Resource Center (LCRC) on campus.” This was the main focus of the lectures given.
They also highlighted concerns of the Latina/o students, and introduced guest speakers Dr. Ortiz, Christina Gomez and Teresita Diaz who all gave speeches about various programs NEIU offers for Latino/a students and programs they would like to see happen, such as an area specific to just to Latino/a students.
Although the school is trying to have a cultural center that gives equal room to all ethnicities, Xavier argues that a third of the university is Latino/a so why shouldn’t the Latino/a organizations have a bigger area than the other ethnic organizations? NEIU has drafted up four proposals for the new space; however, nothing has been decided yet.
Also, the president’s committee has not given a definite answer as to which student organizations will make it into the cultural center spaces. There is also a problem with the exact location of the cultural center. Sharron Evans of the Student Activities Office said “Culture does not just apply to ethnicity, but to the different cultures that are out there such as the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Alliance (GLBTA) culture, women’s culture, students with disabilities culture and so on. Culture means many things; I consider it a gray area.” Other organizations, such as the GLBTA have expressed concerns about their place in the cultural center as well, yet this was not discussed during the presentation. Que Ondee Sola plans on talking with Senators Martinez and Delgado at the fourth annual Plantando Semillas event that will be held on March 31 to further discuss their concerns and needs.