The Latinx community at Duke has a rich history spanning decades. Yet, Latinx students have time and time again reported feelings of otherness or invisibility during their time at Duke. The creation of many Latinx organizations on campus was to combat these feelings and provide a safe space for the Latinx community. However, according to the Campus Climate Survey, Latinx students and staff still face microaggressions and feel uncomfortable on campus. The driving forces behind these sentiments lie much deeper within the structure of the university as a whole. As a result, in 1997, 2003, 2005, and 2016, students have published demands to hold administration accountable. The milestones and history of the Latinx community can be seen in the new Perkins exhibit Our History, Our Voice: Latinx at Duke. Although there have been great wins for the community, such as the creation of La Casa, these were rarely what the students demanded and have proven insufficient.

Our presence on Duke’s campus is constantly stifled or even unwanted, mitigated only by the courageous Latinx students fighting to bring our community to the surface. For the first time, Latinx organizations at Duke have all united to further the interests of the Latinx community. These “demands” serve as accountability for the many times Latinx students tirelessly advocated for a more equitable campus. They are hardly demands, they are a plea for the respect and acknowledgement of marginalized students. Thus, we demand that Duke:

1. Create a permanent, public space historicizing our integration, history and ongoing achievements on this campus in the form of a Latinx cultural center (similar to the Mary Lou and Freeman Centers). This center must have a full staff including a center director, program coordinators and student staff plus adequate accommodations for executive board meetings of Latinx organizations.*

2. Hire faculty to coordinate Latino Student Recruitment Weekend* (the center can assume this role) as well as compensate LSRW student co-chairs for their work (similar to SPARC co-directors).

3. Fund annual Latinx awards to celebrate our student leaders for their tireless efforts.* Duke must also provide permanent funding for Latinx stoles for all graduating seniors that wish to have one.

4. Establish a plan for the hiring of Latinx staff, faculty and administrators that includes consulting Latinx students in hiring decisions. This means increasing the Latinx faculty members in every academic and student affairs department and establishing a plan for retaining these new faculty members (i.e. creating paths to tenure). Particularly important is the hiring of Latinx therapists/psychiatrists at CAPS and hiring Latinxs in administrative roles.*

5. Expand the Latino/a Studies in the Global South program to include a major, minor and its own tenure-track professors.*

6. Reinstate the merit scholarships specific to International Latin Americans to increase the presence of International Latinxs on campus. 

7. Hire financial aid staff with multilingual (especially Spanish) capabilities to support non-English speaking families.

8. Increase admissions office recruitment in highly-Latinx concentrated parts of cities including information events.

9. Create a President's Council on Latinx Affairs that includes representatives from the Latinx faculty, staff, alumni, and student populations; meetings with the president and other members of administration at least twice a semester.*

*signifies unmet demands that have been made by the Latinx community in the past

Signed,

Mi Gente

Latin American Student Organization 

Brazilian Student Association

La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda, Rho Chapter

Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Zeta Mu Chapter

Duke Student Government’s Latinx Caucus

Latinx Business Organization

Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers

Latinx/a Women’s Alliance

Define America