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Indiana University Latino Cultural Center records, 1968-2003, bulk 1980-1995

A Guide to the Records at the Indiana University Archives


Electronic finding aid encoded by Amanda Harlan

Summary Information

Repository
Indiana University Archives
1320 East Tenth Street
Herman B Wells Library E460
Bloomington, IN 47405-7000
Phone: 812-855-1127
Email: archives@indiana.edu
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives

Creator
Indiana University, Bloomington. Latino Cultural Center.

Title
Indiana University Latino Cultural Center records, 1968-2003,  bulk 1980-1995

Collection No.
C245

Extent
3 cubic feet

Language
Materials are in English.

Abstract
The Latino Cultural Center was established at Indiana University in 1973. It is more affectionately known as La Casa. Its purpose was, and continues to be, to achieve through educational and social programs, a greater historical, political and cultural awareness regarding latina/os. The collection consists primarily of records created by the Latino Cultural Center while under the direction of the Office of Latino Affairs including correspondence, publications, programs, budget information, annual reports, and subject files.

Access Restrictions

Advance notice is required for access.

Administrative History

In 1971 the Indiana Daily Student published a call for assistance in forming an office that would address the needs of a growing Latino student body. In 1973, after two years of development, the Indiana University administration appointed Horatio Lewis to fill the dual role of assistant dean in the University Division and director of the newly created Office of Latino Affairs (OLA).

Lewis quickly established himself as a resource for Latino students. Students frequently gathered in the Office of Latino Affairs to socialize with one another, as well as to seek advocacy. It soon became clear to Lewis that the Latino students needed a cultural center of their own, in addition to the newly founded advocacy office.

In November of 1973, Lewis helped to establish the Latino Cultural Center, affectionately know as La Casa, in a house at 410 South Park Street. Three years later, in 1976, La Casa relocated to a larger and more conveniently situated house at 715 East 7th Street, across from the Student Union building.

Education graduate student, Jorge Wehby, was hired as the first director of La Casa. His primary goal was to create a place for new Latino students to congregate in a comfortable and supportive environment. The Office of Latino Affairs hoped this would help Latino students adjust to life at Indiana University, giving them a sense of community that would keep them enrolled in the University and reduce attrition rates. Though La Casa was originally intended primarily for new students making the transition to college life, it soon became a touchstone for the entire Latino community at Indiana University.

By 1977, La Casa had settled into its new location, and Latino students felt it was time to take another step to develop a thriving Latino community at Indiana University. Alianza Latina del Medioeste de America (ALMA), the leading Latino student organization on campus at the time, began lobbying the administration to hire a Latino recruiter and establish a full-time Latino deanship.

ALMA sought a college recruiter who would speak Spanish fluently, understand the unique cultural concerns of Latino families, and make prospective Latino students and their families feel welcomed by Indiana University. As a result of their efforts, Guadalupe Solis was hired for the 1979-1980 school year as the first Latino recruiter at Indiana University.

ALMA’s efforts, as supported by La Casa and the Office of Latino Affairs, also yielded a new full-time deanship for the Office of Latino Affairs, filled by Dr. Hector-Neri Casteñeda, on 15 August 1978. As part of Dr. Casteñeda duties he oversaw the Office of Latino Affairs and the Latino Cultural Center. During his tenure as dean, Dr. Casteñeda supported the expansion and improvement of La Casa as executed by Georgia Burgueño, a graduate student who was the La Casa counselor at the time.

In the 1980-1981 academic year, Dr. Casteñeda approved the funding for a major improvement project designed by Burgueño. She renovated La Casa to create a new lounge, T.V. room, library, and tutoring center on the premises. She was also instrumental in expanding the programming at La Casa. During the early 1980’s Burgueño established many new counseling and support programs, including a very popular Single Parents Support Group in 1983. This group was formed to address the needs of older, non-traditional Latino students who felt especially out of place at Indiana University as both parents and minorities.

Burgueño worked at La Casa to establish a Counseling and Academic Advising Program from 1980 until 1986, when she became the Coordinator for Latino Services for the Office of Latino Affairs. She continued to play an integral role at La Casa, counseling and advising many students and student organizations. She was an advisor for Latinos Unidos at Indiana University (LUIU), she helped students bring a chapter of the Latino fraternity Sigma Lambda Beta to campus, and in 1991 she helped a group of Latina students to create the alpha chapter of the sorority Gamma Phi Omega. In addition to advising student groups at La Casa and beyond, Burgueño also served on the Racial Incidents Team. In this capacity, she was instrumental in mediating a 1993 conflict between senators of the Indiana University Student Association and LUIU president Gabino Zapata, in which the senators made racial slurs against Zapata and his organization during a budget meeting. Burgueño worked as the Coordinator of Latino Services for the Office of Latino Affairs until 1999 when it was incorporated into an Office of Multicultural Affairs. She then became the Latino Advocate to represent the needs of the Latino community within this larger organization, serving in this capacity until leaving the University in 2003.

Although the consolidation of minority affairs offices did not occur until 1999, efforts to bring these offices together began in 1980, the same year that Burgueño arrived at Indiana University. In 1980, the new vice president of Afro-American Affairs, Herman Hudson, recommended consolidation of the Afro-American, Latino, and Women’s Affairs Offices into a single organization – The Office of Afro-American and Minority Affairs. This proposal left the Latino community feeling marginalized, especially after they had put a great deal of effort into strengthening and developing the Office of Latino Affairs and the Latino Cultural Center, as well as securing a Latino dean and minority college recruiter specializing in the needs of Latino students. Other minority students, including representatives of the Black Student Union, opposed the notion of consolidation because the proposal did not address the needs of individual minority groups as the previous offices had.

Latino Students at Indiana University worked out of La Casa with other student groups to form Students United Against Consolidation (SUAC) and lobbied vehemently against the proposal. They wrote letters to the administration and the Indiana Daily Student, as well as circulating petitions among students and parents. Their efforts were successful. In January of 1981 the consolidation proposal was retracted; yet the concept remained open for discussion. On 1 January 1999 the Office of Latino Affairs was eventually incorporated into a larger Office of Multicultural Affairs.

For the time being, the Office of Latino Affairs was preserved and La Casa continued to operate in direct cooperation with the staff of the OLA, which was in a period of internal flux at this time. In 1981, Dean Hector-Neri Castañeda received an unfavorable administrative review and many complaints from students for failing to be a strong advocate for the Latino community. One student, Fernando Chacón – who was studying law at the time and is now a practicing attorney – led a boycott against the Office of Latino Affairs as managed by Dean Castañeda. Chacón commented that the Dean “did not respond to any of the students’ messages and pleas to improve services for Latinos.” (Office of Latino Affairs, January 1973-June 1999. p. 22)

Castañeda took a leave of absence after receiving the negative review and later resigned from his position. Alberto Torchinsky, professor of mathematics, stepped in as acting dean and was later hired for the permanent position. Torchinsky was well liked by students, staff and the administration and he remained in the Deanship until the Office of Latino Affairs was closed in 1999. Students felt that Torchinsky was more in touch with their needs. He also conducted the Office of Latino Affairs openly, with the hope that the entire Latino community would have a voice in its governance.

Under Torchinsky’s leadership, La Casa was expanded into an umbrella organization for a growing number of Latino student groups. La Casa provided faculty advisors, a meeting place, funding, and full use of the office equipment for clerical activities such as typing meeting minutes and newsletters or copying event flyers.

Throughout this period, La Casa continued to grow and expand its programming and outreach to Latino students, as well as planning cultural events for the Indiana University community at large. Together with the Office of Latino Affairs, La Casa brought many notable speakers and performers to campus, including Tito Puente in 1984, Henry Cisneros in 1986, Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Oscar Arias Sánchez in 1990, and César Chavez in 1993.

Through campus-wide events such as National Hispanic Heritage Month, La Casa and the Latino student community were gaining visibility and acceptance at Indiana University; yet, there were also growing concerns over racial incidents and tension at this time. At a student senate meeting in 1993, the President of Latinos Unidos set forth a resolution to secure funding for a parents weekend banquet. He was met with racial slurs that spawned a major conflict in the senate and throughout the campus. During this period, La Casa was instrumental in serving as a meeting place for Latino students to discuss their reactions to the event and formulate a unified response.

A year earlier, in 1992, Lillian Casillas assumed responsibility for overseeing La Casa as the Program Assistant to the Office of Latino Affairs, while a graduate student at Indiana University. Prior to Casillas’ tenure the position had a high turnover rate, and La Casa found itself with a new leader every 1-2 years. Casillas, however, held the position from 1992-1998 and returned to La Casa in 2000 to accept the newly created position of director.

Under the direction of Casillas, La Casa continued to flourish. In 1995, La Casa sponsored MEZCLA, the first Latino team to compete in the Little 500 bicycle race. In 1997, La Casa was instrumental in bringing another Latina sorority, Sigma Lambda Gamma, to Indiana University. Additionally, another first for Latino students was organized by Casillas and La Casa in 1998, when a team of Latino students participated in the I.U. Sing.

As La Casa’s presence grew on campus, the general student body became more aware of diversity issues. Throughout 1997 and 1998, 32 student organizations had come together to advocate that Indiana University officially recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day, create a Latino Studies department, and address many other diversity issues. Yet at the same time a climate of racial tension was also burgeoning on campus. One high profile case of such tension occurred in 1997, when nine pledges of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity were arrested for racial harassment during a scavenger hunt that required them to take a photo of “any funny looking Mexican”. The aftermath of this and other events furthered conflict among students.

Growing concern led Kenneth R.R. Gros-Louis, Chancellor of Indiana University, Bloomington, to reevaluate minority advocacy programs in March of 1998. He consulted Dr. Charlie Nelms, Chancellor of the University of Michigan-Flint and a multi-racial team of educators and administrators. Together, they studied and evaluated the climate at Indiana University and formulated the 20/20 Plan to address minority and diversity concerns.

The plan was released on 1 October 1998 and it called for the strengthening of minority advocacy through the consolidation of individual advocacy offices into a unified Office of Multicultural Affairs. Chancellor Gros-Louis commented that “a series of stand-alone advocacy deanships cannot by themselves dramatically improve the campus climate, or increase the numbers or improve graduation rates from under-represented students.” (Faculty Council Speech, 6 October 1998)

There was some student opposition to the plan, and the Latino community in particular lobbied for better representation in the new office. This led to the hiring of former OLA Coordinator for Latino Services, Georgia Burguéno, as Latino Advocate in the new Office of Multicultural Affairs, which opened 1 January 1999. La Casa, which was previously managed by the Office of Latino Affairs and received funding out of the OLA budget, became an independent organization under the umbrella of the Office of Multi-Cultural Affairs.

This led to the replacement of the graduate student ‘Program Assistant’ position with the permanent staff position of director, which was filled by Casillas two years after she graduated and left the previous Program Assistant position. Though it was feared that consolidation would marginalize services for Latino students, Casillas commented that “under OMA [Office of Mulitcultural Affairs], La Casa has its own budget, larger staff and has better connections to other minority related services.” (personal communication, 14 June 2004) Presently, La Casa remains an active campus organization.

Arrangement

Records organized into four series: Events; Latino community organizations; Publications; and Subject files.

Scope and Content Note

This collection contains materials relating to and collected by the Latino Cultural Center (La Casa) while under the direction of the Office of Latino Affairs. The Office of Latino Affairs (OLA) was established in 1973 and the director of OLA created the Latino Cultural Center as program of the OLA in November of 1973. La Casa continued to operate as a sub-section of the Office of Latino Affairs through 1998. During this period, La Casa was managed by a graduate student ‘Program Assistant’, who reported to the Dean overseeing the Office of Latino Affairs.

On 1 January 1999 the OLA was closed and all minority advocacy offices on campus were consolidated into the Office of Multicultural Affairs. The deanship that oversaw the Office of Latino Affairs was dissolved and OLA’s permanent staff position of ‘Coordinator for Latino Services’, was transformed into the Latino Advocate position at the Office of Multicultural Affairs. The Coordinator for Latino Services had previously been the responsible for overseeing the student position of ‘Program Assistant’ at La Casa; but the new OMA position of Latino Advocate did not include these responsibilities. Instead, in 2000, the OMA created a permanent staff position for the director of La Casa, which was filled by Lillian Casillas, a former graduate student and Program Assistant to La Casa. La Casa is now under the umbrella of the OMA, but functions much more independently than when it was a part of the Office of Latino Affairs.

This collection includes records collected by staff and students at La Casa, while the center was still under the direction of the Office of Latino Affairs. It was transferred to the Indiana University Archives by Lillian Casillas along with her director’s files and the files of the Gamma Phi Omega Latina sorority. Gamma Phi Omega was founded at Indiana University, Bloomington in 1991 and it was advised by Georgia Burgueno, the Coordinator for Latino Services, through La Casa. The Gamma Phi Omega records have been separated into their own collection, C253. Subsequent records transferred from La Casa after it became an independent organization under the umbrella of the Office of Multicultural Affairs will be placed in a La Casa Director’s files collection.

The collection is organized into four series: Events, Latino community organizations, Publications, and Subject files. The Events series is further broken into three subseries of Banquets and receptions, General, and Speakers. Each series and subseries is in alphabetical order. Within each series or subseries, the folders are arranged alphabetically and the materials in each folder are in chronological order.

Events – Banquets and receptions, 1978-1999, is the first subseries of Events. The bulk of this subseries pertains to the Latino Students Recognition Banquet, which was held annually to give scholarships and awards to outstanding members of the Indiana University Latino community. This series contains programs, correspondence, and other records relating to the awards banquets held between 1978 and 1999. The series also features records for many student and faculty receptions held by the Office of Latino Affairs in the 1990’s, as well as two receptions held in conjunction with the Office of Afro-American Affairs.

Events – General, 1968-1998, contains a wide variety of events supported by the Latino Cultural Center and the Office of Latino Affairs. They range from social and cultural events to leadership workshops and academic events. A large portion of this subseries deals with National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 – Oct. 15) programming between the years of 1984 to 2002. The Latino Leadership Workshop, 1982-1985, and other leadership retreats and workshops also comprise a significant potion of this subseries.

Events – Speakers, 1984-1997, contains files on individual guest speakers who came to IU and individuals whom the Latino Cultural Center and the Office of Latino Affairs were trying to bring to campus. Of special note are speakers César Chavez and Henry Cisneros who are known internationally for their activism for the Latino community.

Latino community organizations features files on numerous Latino organizations operating under the umbrella of the Latino Cultural Center (La Casa). Latinos Unidos of Indiana University, also known as LUIU, was the largest of these organizations and represented Latino interests in the Indiana University student government. Also of note are MEZCLA, the first Latino team to participate in the Little 500 bicycle race, and a file on the first Latino team to enter the IU Sing contest. This series includes the records of many student organizations such as the Latino Law Students Association, and many cultural organizations such as the Latino Dance Group.

The Publications series consists of many newsletters published by the Office of Latino Affairs, Latino Cultural Center (La Casa), Latino students, and other Latino organizations. The largest group of files in this series pertains to Hello! Office of Latino Affairs or HOLA, a publication of the Office of Latino Affairs that featured not only news and announcements pertaining to the Indiana University community, but also in-depth articles on broader Latino issues around the country and the world. In addition to publications targeted towards the students and faculty of Indiana University, there are also two publications in this series targeted towards the parents of Latino college students. For many Latino families, these students were the first to go to college and these newsletters helped to connect parents to their children’s experiences with higher education.

The Subject files are the final series and are comprised of files dealing with many different issues relating to the Latino Cultural Center (La Casa) and the Latino community in Bloomington, Indiana. It covers basic administrative issues such as building and computer maintenance, budgets and annual reports, and procedural files on Indiana University’s policies on emergency planning, disciplinary action, and dealing with sexual assault or harassment. This series also contains files on specific proposals and issues such as the development of a Latino Studies Department at Indiana University and repeated proposals to consolidate the Office of Latino Affairs and other offices into a larger minority advocacy office. Of particular interest is a folder on the 1993 report to the Racial Incidents Team of Indiana University. This report was filed by the President of Latinos Unidos (LUIU) after he and his organization were ridiculed and confronted with numerous racial slurs at a senate meeting of the Indiana University Student Association. This folder contains a great deal of correspondence between the President of LUIU, the President of the Student Association, and many members of the community, as well as documentation on the steps taken to resolve the incident.

Separated Material

The records of Gamma Phi Omega sorority (Collection C253), confidential student information, photographs, current director’s subject files, and duplicate materials have been removed from the collection.

Related Material

See also the Indiana University Archives Collection C253, the Gamma Phi Omega Sorority records.

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information
Accessions 2003/081 and 7071.
Usage Restrictions
Copyrights for records originating with Indiana University administrative units, departments, and other offices are held by the Trustees of Indiana University. For more information, please contact the Indiana University Archives staff.

The Indiana University Archives respects the intellectual property rights of others and does not claim any copyrights for non-university records, materials in the public domain, or materials for which we do not hold a Deed of Gift. Responsibility for the determination of the copyright status of these materials rests with those persons wishing to reuse the materials. Researchers are responsible for securing permission from copyright owners and any other rights holders for any reuse of these materials that extends beyond fair use or other statutory limitations.

Digital reproductions of archival materials from the Indiana University Archives are made available for noncommercial educational and research purposes only. If you are the copyright holder for any of the digitized materials and have questions about its inclusion on our site, please contact the Indiana University Archivist.

Preferred Citation
[Item], Indiana University Latino Cultural Center records, Collection C245, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.
Provenance
Transfer; Latino Cultural Center; 2003; Accession 2003/081.
Processing Information
Processed by Kate Ball.

Completed in 2004.


Series: Events, 1968-1999 

Subseries: Banquets and receptions, 1978-1999 

Box 1 Latino Graduate Student Reception, 1995 

Latino Students Recognition Banquet,

1978 

1979 

1980 

1981 

1982 

1983 

1984 

1985 

1986 

1987 

1988 

1989 

1990 

1991 

1992 

1993 

1994 

1995 

1996 

1997 

1998 

1999 

Office of Latino Affairs and Office of Afro-American Affairs Fall Reception,

1994 

1995 

Office of Latino Affairs Fall Reception,

1994 

1995 

1996 

Reception for Latino Faculty and Staff,

1993


Receptions, miscellaneous, 1996-1998 

Subseries: General, 1968-1998 

Box 1 Black and Brown Get Down, 1995 

Dia de la Raza,

1981 

1982 

1983 

Fiesta Indianapolis,

1982 

1983 

1984 

1985 

Groups 30th year reunion, 1998 

Latino Leadership Workshop I,1982-1983,  undated 

Latino Leadership Workshop II,1983-1984,  undated 

Latino Leadership Workshop III,1985,  undated 

Latino Student Leadership Retreat,1991-1992,  undated 

Latino Student Forum, 1994 

Little 500, 1995-1996 

National Hispanic Heritage Month,

1984 

1985 

1988 

1989 

1990 

1991 

1992 

1993 

1994 

1995 

1996 

1997 

1998 

Proclamations, 1968-1996 

Office of Latino Affairs Racism Workshop, 1989 

Pan/Amigos Retreat, 1987 

Series: Events, 1968-1999 

Subseries: Speakers, 1984-1997 

Box 2 Agosin, Marjorie, 1993 

Alvarad, Elvia, 1993 

Alvarado, Linda, 1993 

Cuellar, Dr. José “Loco,” 1997 

Chavez, César, 1987-1994,   undated 

Cisneros, Henry, 1984-1986,  undated 

Colon, Emilio, 1992 

Crawford, James, 1993 

Cuarón, Dr. Alicia V., 1989,   undated 

Gonzales, Roberta, 1990 

Gonzalez, Rey, 1988 

Gutierrez, Sidney M., 1988 

Hernandez, Antonia, 1994 

Luna, William, undated 

Munoz, Carlos Jr., 1997 

Negrete, Jesus,1992-1993,  undated 

Ochoa, Ellen, 1990 

Quintano, Alicia, 1992-1993 

Rios-Weible, Marisella, 1991 

Rodriguez, Luis, 1992-1997 

Santiago, Esmeralda, undated 

Santos, Miriam, 1992-1993 

Villasenor, Victor, 1992,   undated 

Series: Latino community organizations, 1979-2003 

Box 2 Alianza Latina del Medioeste de America (ALMA), 1973-1979,  undated 

Gamma Phi Omega, 1992-2003,  undated 

Hombre Latino, undated 

IDIOMA, 1998-2000,  undated 

Indiana University Latino Alumni Association, undated 

IU Sing, 1997-1998 

Latino Dance Group, 1997-1998,  undated 

Latino Enhancement Committee, 1995-2001,  undated 

Latino Graduate Student Association, 1998-2002,  undated 

Latino Law Students Association, 1977-2003,  undated 

Latinos Unidos,

1980-1984 

1984-1989 

1990-1992 

1995-2003 

Constitution, 1980-1998 

Mezcla, 1994-2001,  undated 

Omega Delta Phi, 1995 

Puerto Rican Student Association, 1979-1995,  undated 

Sigma Lambda Beta, 1987-1996,  undated  [image]View item(s)

Series: Publications, 1974-1997 

Box 2 Hispanics and Other Minorities, 1984 

HOLA (Hello! Office of Latino Affairs,)

Correspondence, 1982-1985 

Issues,

1981-1982 

1982-1983 

1983-1984 

1984-1985 

1985-1986 

1986-1987 

Drafts of unpublished articles, undated 

Box 3 La Casa News, 1991-1995 

La Voz, 1986-1988 

LATCA (Latino Affairs/La Casa Newsletter,) 1974-1977 

OLA (Office of Latino Affairs) Newsletter,

Correspondence, 1980-1981,  undated 

Issues, 1977-1982 

Parent Connection, 1997 

Parents Only, 1980-1991 

Series: Subject files, 1973-2001 

Box 3 Advisory Board Proposal, undated 

Affirmative Action Report, 1984-1985 

Annotated Bibliographies on Latino Subjects, 1989-1994 

Annual Reports, 1983-1985 

Art Print of Indiana University Campus, undated 

Biographies of Latino Faculty, 1995-1997,  undated 

Budget and Program Planning, 1989-1990 

Building Maintenance of La Casa, 1974-2001,  undated 

Columbia House CD Club Musica Latina, 1996-1998 

Computer Literacy Project, 1985-1986,  undated 

Computer Maintenance, 1993-1997,  undated 

Comunidad Latina Survey, 1973 

Dean Michael Gordon Review Committee, 1986 

Disciplinary Procedures, undated 

Emergency Action Plan, undated 

Enrollment Highlights, 1996 

GROUPS Report, undated 

Hispanic Summer Enrichment proposal, 1986 

Indiana Census Information, 1990-1992 

Indiana Hispanic Network, 1983-1992,  undated 

La Casa Questionnaire, undated 

La Casa Renovation Project, 1995-1997 

Latino authors, undated 

Latino Living Learning Center proposal, 1992-1996 

Latino Research and Development Project, undated 

Latino Studies Program proposal, 1973,   undated  [image]View item(s)

Minority Services, undated 

Nonprofit Corporations, 1998,  undated 

Office of Latino Affairs History, 1981,  undated 

Parking, 1994-2000 

Proposal for the Reorganization of Minority Service Programs, 1990-1991 

Prospective Faculty, 1997-1998 

Racial Incident Report, 1993 

Receipts and Warranties, 1985-1997,  undated 

SABER Program, 1981,  undated 

Sexual Assault Policy Information, 1995,  undated 

Sociology 335, Race and Ethnic Relations, 1998 

Student Ethics Research, 1998,  undated 

Students United Against Consolidations (SUAC), 1987-1991 

Television Programs with Latino Themes, 1986-1988 

World AIDS Day, 1991 

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