On Sept. 16, Cal State Bakersfield celebrated the beginning of Latinx Heritage Month with a kickoff event, which took place at the Student Union Patio from 12p.m. to 2 p. m. The event was organized by the newly reconstituted affinity group, the Latino/Latina staff association. Ethnic Studies Professor, Jose Villagran, who is also the Co-Chair of the Latino/Latina staff association, says the association aims to unify latino and faculty staff across different divisions to have a unified voice that represents latino interests in the university by creating a space that makes latinx students feel heard and seen.
“They’re not only the majority but they’re also a group of students who have often times endured many hardships and dire circumstances, A lot of our students come from farm worker families, hard working families, and I want this campus to feel like a second home to them, I don’t want them to feel like this is a place that is difficult to access, I want them to feel seen loved and respected” Villagran said.
For Villagran representation right now is the most important, especially through events like this, that help the latinx community come together and express their cultural pride.
“I think right now latinos feel very sensitive to targeted attacks in this country and in my view in the time that I’ve been here I’ve seen that a bigger resurgence of cultural pride and identity,” said Villagran.
Other faculty on campus also teamed up with the Latino/Latina staff association to make this event possible, Campus Programming was one of the collaborators at this event.
Campus programming staff member, Rossely Cruz, was happy to be able to help bring this kickoff event on campus for students to enjoy, especially being a former CSUB student herself.
“Being a first generation latina myself, I want to make sure that we can honor and celebrate our students in the best way possible, and that goes for any student of any ethnicity,” Cruz said.
According to Cruz, events like these helps bring a community not only with the students but with faculty and staff of all ethnic backgrounds, “I feel like one should be open to learning, gaining knowledge about the different ethnicity backgrounds because it helps bring more multicultural competency, it brings more empathy, we can understand each other’s struggles, and culture, I feel like that brings more unity rather than diversion.”
Students in attendance of the event were able to get free food, that included chicken, rice and agua frescas, getting the opportunity to taste traditional latinx food.
“I think seeing latinx based events give me more of an opportunity to express myself and feel accepted, especially now that representation of the latino community matters more than ever, I love seeing my culture be represented on campus,” said pre-health major at CSUB, Cecila Barreto.
The event overall brought joy to Villagran, especially seeing how many students and faculty connected with it, “My favorite part of seeing this event come to life is just how easy it is for many of us to just fall into cultural tradition,”.
Planning the event was challenging according to Villagran but it came together perfectly.
