Political science junior Saleen Gonzalez-Apodaca came to LSU from Dallas, Texas. As a Mexican-American, Gonzalez-Apodaca wanted to attend a Hispanic service institute, but ultimately chose LSU for financial reasons.
Within her first year at LSU, Gonzalez-Apodaca hadn’t found her community and was ready to move out.
“Participating in a [predominantly white institution] it’s uncomfortable. It becomes uncomfortable until you start meeting your family, and people who grew up like you and are from the countries you’re from,” Gonzalez-Apodaca said.
Despite the university’s resources, many minority students struggle to find community and comfort on LSU’s campus.
At the end of her freshman year, Gonzalez-Apodaca searched for “Latino” on TigerLink, LSU’s platform for connecting students with campus organizations. She ran into Sigma Lambda Gamma, a Latina-founded sorority and the only multicultural sorority at LSU.
Gonzalez-Apodaca filled out an interest form and decided to commit. It was the first time she had met Hispanic people at LSU.
“[Sigma Lambda Gamma] it literally changed my mind from wanting to be at Texas A&M or UT Austin to wanting to stay here,” Gonzalez-Apodaca said. “I saw the potential this had to impact the community here at LSU and create a space and a sisterhood that was for life and not just for four years.”
Gonzalez-Apodaca now serves as President of Sigma Lambda Gamma, and has also found a community through the Latin American Student Organization. She also frequently uses the Latinx center within the Student Union.
“The Latinx Center is really my home… I was amazed that LSU would even have a space for us here,” she said.
While Gonzalez-Apodaca thinks it’s important for LSU to have a space for minorities like the Latinx Center, she believes a larger space is needed for the growing community on campus.
“If you want to show that you have so many minorities on campus, give them space. Show you care,” Gonzalez-Apodaca said.
While Gonzalez-Apodaca eventually found her community at LSU, she doesn’t recommend that other minorities come to LSU if they want to be surrounded by other students of color.
“I wanted to transfer the second I got here,” Gonzalez-Apodaca said. “If you want a community like UMiami, like universities in Texas or California, don’t come here.”
Mechanical engineering sophomore Karla Iraheta also agrees that minorities need more space on campus.
Iraheta is from Los Angeles and has Salvadoran heritage. Before coming to LSU, she was not used to such a white environment and found herself missing the diverse community in Los Angeles.
Iraheta previously lived with a white roommate and a black roommate. While living together, the White roommate often expressed his discomfort with Iraheta sharing her culture, even if it was through music or food.
Iraheta is also a part of Sigma Lambda Gamma, which she immediately felt at home with.
“I felt really involved… Once we met in person, it was an instant connection. I can really call them my hermanas,” Iraheta said.
Alex Torres serves as Assistant Director for Latinx Affairs at LSU and is an alumnus of the school. She works within the Office of Multicultural Affairs, which she describes as the “student-facing” side of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
According to Torres, the Office of Multicultural Affairs offers mentoring, cultural programming and additional resources for students of color. They also help students connect with multicultural organizations on campus and provide a space for students to visit and feel a sense of community.
Torres believes LSU needs a space like the Office of Multicultural Affairs for minority students to feel seen and heard, noting that one of the most common reasons students visit her office is anxiety about help financial and mental health.
“[The Office of Multicultural Affairs] it is important because of visibility and advocacy. Students should be able to build a relationship with a department that they feel they can trust and at least have staff members that they can share their identity with,” Torres said.
There are many events planned for minorities throughout the school year, including cultural nights and celebrations for various heritage months. However, Torres believes there is room for improvement.
“I think there’s always room to do more… Not only for students to feel included, but for students to really learn how to stand in solidarity with each other,” Torres said.
Lauren Denton works with Torres within the Office of Multicultural Affairs and serves as Assistant Director for Inclusive Programming and Mentoring at LSU.
Denton hopes to connect with Native American and Asian students on campus, who she has found don’t necessarily have anyone to turn to. She also expressed a desire to hold more community events, as she has noticed that embracing the culture helps with minority retention rates.
“The goal is to have culturally based events… to increase the sense of belonging and community. Hope this helps [students’] experience toward graduation,” Denton said.
She also said the workforce is becoming more diverse, so it’s important for schools like LSU to teach their students how to be comfortable with people from different backgrounds.
Denton encourages students of color to visit the Office of Multicultural Affairs if they ever have a problem or just want to see people who can relate to their minority experiences.
“There are more barriers for underrepresented students, so we’re here to help them navigate, listen and advocate,” Denton said. “I want this to be a place they feel comfortable coming to.”
Jane Cassidy is the current interim vice president of Inclusion, Civil Rights and Title IX at LSU. With this position, she oversees various offices on campus, including the Office of Multicultural Affairs.
“[The Office of Multicultural Affairs] there’s programming that goes on throughout the year for students,” Cassidy said.[The question is,] how to bring people of the same heritage together to celebrate things and how to teach others what those celebrations are.”
Cassidy says LSU has a lot to offer minority students, including special commencement ceremonies for students from historically underrepresented groups, mentoring and cultural centers. She says her office is working to create more space for cultural centers to meet the needs of the community.
While LSU offers support to students, Cassidy says she realizes the school could do more to make black students aware that these resources are available to them.
“When you’re a freshman, this place is so big… We need to be more engaged during welcome week with freshmen, to make sure they know where to go if they’re people of color who want to look for people who have the same heritage as them,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy also said another way minority students can connect with resources on campus is to search the Office of Diversity and Inclusion online to learn more about cultural events and people to connect with.
“Our mission is to serve all the people of Louisiana. We have learned a lot in the recent past about how to do things better. We need an Office of Diversity and Inclusion to have someone whose eyes are focused [diversity] all the time,” Cassidy said. “We want to serve people of color on campus. We want to make sure everyone knows they’re welcome here.”
