In an ongoing effort to increase the Latino presence on campus, University officials plan to hold a Latino recruitment weekend for prospective freshmen.
Administrators and students will hold a meeting Friday to discuss details, such as the date and schedule of the weekend.
"What form Latino recruitment is going to take is something that will be determined in the coming months," said Christoph Guttentag, director of undergraduate admissions.
"Whatever we decide and whatever form recruitment takes, I think it's important that the University clearly seems to be demonstrating an increased interest in Latino and Hispanic students."
This interest comes at a time when the percentage of Latino and Hispanic undergraduates at the University lags far behind that of the United States.
Currently, the admissions office website lists about four percent of the undergraduate population as Latino or Hispanic, while 12 percent of the general population is of one of those two descents.
Last February, the Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity Inc., aided by several other organizations, circulated a document among administrators which detailed several Latino Initiatives.
In addition to the Latino Student Recruitment Weekend, the report recommended the creation of minority leadership and community service scholarships and a Latino-Hispanic cultural and academic center.
The Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Inc., which stands for La Unidad Latina, modified the report in September to include specific details about the LSRW.
The schedule includes time for prospective students to attend classes, a semiformal dinner and dance, a keynote speaker, panel discussions and a Latin band in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The report recommends that the admissions office choose the 75 weekend participants on the basises of merit and need. The University would then subsidize half of each applicant's plane fare, which the report estimates will cost a total of $15,000.
With the expenses for all the weekend events included, the report estimates that the LSRW will cost $45,300-an aspect of the prospective weekend that students and administrators will discuss Friday. Based on the nature of the events, organizers are optimistic about the administration's response.
"Everything is an alternative to alcohol and a cultural experience, which is exactly what the University looks for in funding events," said Trinity junior Christopher Brandt-Rodriguez, author of the report. "[The administration] has been nothing but positive. It's all about allocating the money."
The University has sponsored the Black Student Alliance Invitational, a recruitment weekend for black prospective freshmen, for several decades, Guttentag said. It is possible for students to be invited to both weekends, but Brandt-Rodriguez says that the purpose of the LSRW will be slightly different.
"Really, Latinos are in a league of their own," he said. "A lot of Latinos are also black and a lot are white. It's less of a race issue and more of a cultural issue."
Currently the University employs Veronica Guzman, an associate director of the admissions office specifically in charge of recruiting Latino students. But Brandt-Rodriguez said that is not enough.
"Other than [Guzman], there has not been any active part in the University in recruiting any minority other than African-American students," he said. "The reason for that is that a lot of Latinos are newer to the country and have not graduated college. Latinos are the fastest growing minority and the poorest minority except for Native Americans. It's hard to fund raise in that situation."
The Latino population in North Carolina certainly shows such growth. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the Hispanic population in the state could hit 123,000 in 2000-a 35 percent jump from 1990. A slight rise at the University has reflected this increase.
The class of 2002 has a record-high 82 Latinos, an increase from 64 in the previous class.
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