Hal Nees opened the town meeting. The panelists (l to r) Arthur Campa, Juan Dempere, Judi Diaz Bonacquisti, Sandra Haynes and President Stephen Jordan.

Calling the goal bold and audacious, Metro State President Stephen Jordan officially launched the Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) initiative Thursday morning, April 19.

An estimated 120 faculty and staff attended the “Why HSI?” town hall meeting in the Tivoli Turnhalle to hear Jordan and members of the steering committee of a soon-to-be-formed HSI task force explain the reasoning behind the Board of Trustees-mandated HSI goal (for Hispanics to compose 25 percent of student enrollment) for Metro State.

Faculty Senate President Hal Nees opened the meeting by stating that living up to the responsibility of educating all students is at the heart of what Metro State is about.

Jordan explained the changing demographics in Denver and Colorado that point toward an ever-increasing Latino population. For instance, he pointed out that in the last 10 years, U.S. Census Bureau data show a population increase in Colorado of not quite 6 percent; while at the same time the state’s Latino population grew 17 percent.

Meanwhile, there is what Jordan calls a “shrinking pipeline” to education for students of color. Even while the Latino population grows, Colorado remains ranked 44th in sending students of color to college. “A longitudinal look at the demographics of education in the Denver metro area shows why,” Jordan said.

• Denver’s school district has the largest ethnic minority population in the metropolitan area, with 80 percent of its students being of color.
• The Community College of Denver, which offers the most diverse community college experience, has a population that is 48 percent students of color.
• Metro State has the largest minority student population of any four-year institution in the Front Range at 24 percent. The state average at four-year colleges is 17 percent.

Jordan also spoke of how it makes economic sense for Colorado to graduate more students of color. “If Colorado could graduate and employ students of color at the same rates as other students, it would generate an additional $967 million in tax revenue each year,” he said, citing figures from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

An estimated 120 faculty and staff heard Jordan and the HSI steering committee discuss the strategies behind the HSI initiative.

Benefits to Metro State
Jordan concluded that economic and social realities dictate that Metro State should and must increase its Latino student enrollment; he emphasized that an HSI designation provides significant benefits to all students, faculty and staff, not just Latinos.

“Once we achieve a 25 percent Latino population,” Jordan said, “this designation opens up a world of possibilities for receiving grant monies for activities that range from faculty development to renovation of instructional facilities to student support services.”

Jordan cited U.S. Department of Education figures that show $96 million was awarded by the DOE to HSI institutions across the country in 2005. Of this, Colorado’s five HSIs received approximately $1.4 million (Community College of Denver is the only one in the metro area.) He added that many other governmental and private entities target HSIs for their grants, including the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the American Association for Cancer Research.

HSI task force
The president announced that an HSI steering committee, led by Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management Judi Diaz Bonacquisti, has been working for several months on a template for an HSI task force. He asked the audience to nominate themselves or others to serve on five working groups: Assessment, Retention and Recruitment, Public Relations, Campus Climate and Professional Development. One faculty member and one staff person will co-chair the 30- to 40-member task force

Along with Diaz Bonacquisti, the other steering committee members are: Professor and Co-Director of the College Assistance Minority Program (CAMP) Arthur Campa, Assistant Professor of Finance Juan Dempere, School of Professional Studies Dean Sandra Haynes, Assistant Vice President of Communications Cathy Lucas and Associate to the President for Diversity Sallye McKee.

All but Lucas spoke at the meeting. Campa discussed learning communities and the importance of support services, citing the high retention and graduation rates of CAMP students and what has been learned through this community of the most underserved population in the state. “This is a team effort that involves our staff, College services and the community people who support us,” he said.

Dempere discussed in further detail the funding that could be available. As an example, he cited the University of Texas-Pan American, which recently received 25 grants totaling $8 million because it is an HSI. He also reiterated that the legislation which created HSIs states that any funding must benefit the institution as a whole.

Diaz Bonacquisti discussed the importance of retaining and graduating all students and how the committee has been researching institutions designated as HSIs that have high retention and graduation rates, such as the California State University-San Bernadino. “We have a lot to learn from those institutions that we aspire to be like,” she said, adding that the enrollment management area already has been working toward improving recruitment and retention by revamping the Excel and Summer Bridge Programs and “changing the way we do recruitment of DPS students.”

Haynes announced that for the past two months, the College has been working on a Faculty Development Center that will provide faculty with grant-writing assistance for public and private funds. Once the College reaches HSI designation, professors will be able to attain funding for professional development, research projects and other projects that “benefit themselves, our students and the college as a whole,” she said.

McKee wrapped up the presentation portion of the meeting with a call for the College community to address head-on the issue of race, citing concerns she had heard about HSI status. “We must work hard with each other across cultural lines,” she said. “If we don’t stay at the table and fight the good fight, someone else will walk off with our piece of the pie.”

Several audience members asked questions, including Alton Clark.

Audience questions
Those concerns were brought to light during the question-and-answer period when Alton Clark, associate director of Veterans Upward Bound and a member of the African American Affairs Council, asked how HSI status is going to serve other campus groups.

“I’m here to say that all of us will do better as an HSI,” said Jordan in response. He also cited the fact that East High School, one of Metro State’s biggest feeder schools, has a large African American population, as does Aurora Community College, which is set to become the second community college with which Metro State will have a 2 + 2 program.

Diaz Bonacquisti added, “The rising tide raises all boats. HSI will not be at the expense of any other group.”

Luis Torres, interim assistant dean of the School of Letters, Arts and Sciences, praised the HSI goal, saying “I can’t think of any other project in the state that is as ambitious and visionary.”

Editor’s Note: If you would like to nominate yourself or someone else to be on the HSI task force, e-mail McKee at smckee4@mscd.edu. For a copy of Jordan’s speech click on HSI Launch. The powerpoint presentation can be downloaded here.  And a video of the meeting will be available Wednesday, April 25, here.