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Students react to the Hector D. Lasalle CLAP talk at Morrill Hall on Oct. 9.

October 16, 2024

‘The Visibility of Latinos Here is Under Threat’: Drop in Hispanic Enrollment Strains Latinx Student Groups

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As Hispanic Heritage Month has drawn to a close, leaders of Cornell’s Latinx student organizations report drops in attendance and decreased Hispanic visibility following the Supreme Court’s ruling to end race-conscious affirmative action. 

The class of 2028 — the first admitted after the end of affirmative action — saw a pronounced drop in enrollment for Black, Hispanic and Native American students, with the proportionally largest decrease being for Hispanic students, from 16.7 percent to 10.5 percent. 

Rafael Montán ’26, social media chair for the Puerto Rican Students Association, said that recruitment has been “a bit of a struggle,” citing a decrease in the number of first-years who have joined.

Montán, who is also a member of the Committee on U.S.-Latin American Relations — a student organization aimed to “promote justice and mutual understanding among the people of the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean” — noted a similar problem in the group. 

“CUSLAR is already a small organization to begin with, and the decline in enrolled Latinx students could be affecting our ability to keep moving forward as an organization,” Montán said. 

Cristobal Ramirez ’26, alumni relations chair for Mecha de Cornell — a social justice-oriented Chicanx organization — also feels a decline in attendance. “The energy is definitely different. We had an average of four applications per position this year, but last year it was roughly six to eight per position,” Ramirez said. 

“I feel the visibility of Latinos here is under threat,” Ramirez said. “Our motto in Mecha is ‘la unión hace la fuerza,’ which means ‘union is our strength.’ Without numbers, it’s harder to create union.”

Ramirez added that the University’s drop in Latinx enrollment is a concerning sign regarding Cornell’s commitment to diversity. 

“What’s disheartening is that in peer institutions like Yale, Latinx enrollment has not gone down as noticeably, which makes me question if Cornell wants diversity,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez also pointed out that it is Cornell’s responsibility to release more detailed statistics about the backgrounds of Cornell’s Latinx demographic to show if the drop in Hispanic enrollment corresponds with other factors, such as socioeconomic status.

Shaunjae Suarez ’26, vice president of La Asociación Latina and co-president of PRSA, agreed that despite steady attendance from older members, he has seen a drop in new student attendance. “In a lot of the events I organized, the people who turn up to these are the same upperclassmen in the organizations already. It feels like there’s no new faces being introduced,” Suarez said. 

Suarez pointed to the Latino Living Center’s annual Bienvenidos BBQ as an example. “Usually, the vast majority who show up are first-years, so it was very surprising when I was tabling there … to see no one but people that I already know at the event,” Suarez said. “Very few first-years actually came up to engage at our table.” 

At a time of declining enrollment for Hispanic students, Hispanic faculty also remain a minority, with 151 out of 1136 faculty members being of Black, Hispanic or Indigenous descent. 

Students report noticing this scarcity when reflecting upon their experience at Cornell. 

Isabella Riano ’25, vice president of Cornell Latinx Association of Pre-Laws, said that she does not recall encountering Latino faculty members other than the times she specifically took a Latina/o studies class.

“For my other classes, I wish there were a lot more faculty members that were of Latin identity just so I could feel more comfortable.”

Despite University-wide declines in racial diversity, Cornell’s Latinx organizations remain committed to fostering community, including by collaborating with other Latinx identity groups.

“We’ve started planning collaborations with other organizations like Mecha,” Montán said. “We’re hoping that our events will grow our membership. The more visible we are, the more folks will come.”

Julia Lian ’28 and Yuhan Huang ’28 are Sun contributors and can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].