Why Transforming Hispanic-Serving Institutions Matters

Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) are defined by the U.S. Federal government as colleges and universities with at least 25% of their students identifying as Hispanic and a significant number of low-income students. HSIs were first designated as such in the Higher Education Act of 1992 as a result of advocacy from a variety of groups interested in issues related to Hispanic communities and students. These institutions are the fastest growing sector of colleges and universities in the nation due to the influx of Latinx students pursuing higher education. Today, there are 559 HSIs and another 393 emerging HSIs. Unlike Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), which were created with the express purpose of educating African Americans in the mid-to-late 1800s and early 1900s, all but two HSIs were originally Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). They became HSIs as a result of demographic shifts in the country and the growth in the Latinx population. Because HSIs grew out of PWIs, they were not created with a mission to support Latinx students the way HBCUs were created to support Black students.*

Gina Garcia, a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh, wants HSIs to transform in order to fulfill their federal designation and thus, obligation to Latinx students. Her first book on HSIs — Becoming Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Opportunities for Colleges and Universities — delved into the issue of whether HSIs actually serve their students. Her newest book — Transforming Hispanic-Serving Institutions for Equity and Justice — pushes HSIs to acknowledge that they began as PWIs. She argues that in order to serve their Latinx students, these colleges and universities must grapple with how whiteness operates within and across their campuses. Moreover, she urges leaders of HSIs to consider how the privileging of whiteness manifests in the governance of the institutions, the curricula, the traditions, and the overall learning environment.

Garcia’s new book is grounded in 25 years of research related to HSIs, but its strength is the solutions that it offers to HSI practitioners who want to transform their institutions in areas such as curricula, student services, mission, governance, and relationships with the surrounding communities. For example, Garcia suggests that HSIs build out robust relationships with students’ families and that these relationships begin with family orientations during the admissions and recruitment process. She urges HSIs to honor the language and culture of families and to engage the entire family when prospective students express interest in the institution. According to Garcia, “In engaging families and inviting them to become members of the campus community, transformed HSIs must meet families where they are, understanding that they have a range of economic, language and social needs.” She adds, “Families must be seen and valued as essential members of the transformed HSIs, as they are vital to the success of racially and ethnically minoritized students.”

Although HSIs have highly diverse student bodies, research demonstrates that faculty diversity is not as robust on their campuses. The growth and hiring of Latinx faculty members has not kept up with the growth of Latinx students. Garcia acknowledges this problem and considers a transformed HSI one that tackles this issue head on — one that comes clean about the racism against Latinx faculty that can happen within HSI contexts because many of these institutions were PWIs not long ago. Garcia urges HSIs to rethink their faculty governance processes to ensure that the voices of Latinx faculty are centered, and included in high stakes decisions, especially those pertaining to hiring, tenure, and academics.

Garcia ends her book by calling on educators and leaders within the HSI community to build upon her ideas in the name of social justice, radical liberation, and critical love. It is evident that she cares deeply about HSIs and because she cares she wants them to be their very best, and that task requires transformation in order to truly serve Latinx students.