NYU Doesn’t Do Enough for Hispanic Heritage Month
It’s been real quiet this past month…
It’s National Hispanic Heritage Month. From Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, we’re supposed to be doused in awareness of Hispanic/Latinx culture and issues. But we wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t know, especially since NYU has done little programming surrounding Hispanic Heritage Month.
That’s shocking, considering that 22% of freshmen this year are Latinx/Hispanic. For the 2022 class it was 19%; in 2021 it was 15%; and for the current graduating class, it was 14%. With the percentage of Latinx/ Hispanic students increasing over the past few years, you’d think NYU would have more events that would benefit these students and have a more welcoming atmosphere, but by talking to a couple of students, we see this reality is far from the truth.
Chrystal Nahui, a junior Politics and Spanish double major in CAS, said she has her own way of bringing her Peruvian culture to NYU.
“While at NYU I usually try and find other Latinos to relate to and we’ll go out to Bachata clubs and dance or try each other’s foods,” Nahui said. “In NYU, I don’t eat Peruvian food because it’s expensive and honestly not as good as home. I’ll still listen to my usual music.”
Nahui said that although she thinks NYU does “an okay job” at hosting events for the community, a majority of those events are hosted by student clubs.
There are Latinx/Hispanic student clubs like Latinos Unidos Con Honor y Amistad as well as clubs tied to a specific culture like the Mexican Student Organization, Bella Quisqueya, ¡Viva Peru!, and many more.
“I, however, would like there to be more events especially during Hispanic Heritage Month,” Nahui said.
This rhetoric seems to be shared by Briana Valdez, a sophomore majoring Journalism and English, who continually tries to celebrate her Bolivian culture here at NYU.
“I don’t think I’ve seen one banner or poster celebrating it, which is kind of upsetting,” Valdez said. “I might have seen one email and even the clubs that I’m subscribed to on their email list that are Latino-involved don’t really say much about it. I’m not sure if dining halls are doing ‘themed’ food weeks, which they probably shouldn’t do to be honest, but maybe some speakers or events that give us a space to be ourselves would be nice.”
Valdez said she probably will resort to going to other places away from NYU, like Nahui.
“While I haven’t tried my best to keep it alive at school, I think if I were to improve that part of my life, it would probably be to go to these festivals or dancing parades usually midtown on Fifth Ave,” Valdez said. “And maybe advocate them or at least bring someone from NYU to experience it I think it would be kind of cool.”
The problem does not come from the lack of clubs, it is the lack of events that NYU as a university should be hosting to celebrate this month.
