By ANDREA LOPEZ
News Editor

(WARRENSBURG, Mo., digitalBURG) — They account for nearly 17 percent of the U.S. population; yet, the presence of Hispanics on campus seems to be little recognized.

“They feel like they’re on an island on campus,” said Ivan Ramirez, graduate student and founder of the Student Organization of Latinos. “When they’re here, they feel alone. They see segregation still.”

A group of nearly 20 students gathered in the James C. Kirkpatrick Library on Nov. 8 to discuss ways to increase the cultural presence of Hispanic students at UCM.

The new student group, SOL, is geared to attract Hispanics across campus who are looking for ways to share their heritage, while having a close community to support them along the way.

“I noticed we had an Indian group, we had a Korean and an African [group],‘hey, what about us?’” Ramirez said. “We need something. To not just do fun activities, but also educate the campus and the community about our cultures.”

A total of 416 UCM students identified themselves as being Hispanic, out of a student body of 14,395 for the fall 2015 semester, according to the UCM Office of Institutional Research. This was an increase of 26 Latino students from fall 2014 and is a total increase of 149 from fall 2011.

The problem doesn’t seem to be that there aren’t enough Hispanic students at UCM; rather, that they are hiding.

“It’s a big number, but how do you find them?” Ramirez said. “Do we try and blend in because we don’t want to stand out? Because if you stand out, you might be made fun of?”

However, the support of spreading Latino pride is not new to campus.

Most recently, UCM had an organization called the Latino Student Union that was headed by Sandra Merrill, professor of modern languages, from 2008 to 2012.

“It just died for lack of participation and when Ivan approached me about SOL, I was very excited to have that type of organization again in UCM,” Merrill said. “I think it’s important to have a group that supports Hispanics/Latinos in our campus and that offers culture-related activities to share with the Warrensburg and UCM communities; e s p e c i a l l y, considering the increase in Latino/Hispanic students at UCM.”

While the organization may be geared toward Latinos, not all people in the club speak Spanish, and some aren’t even Hispanic.

“There was one girl who came, who identifies herself as Hispanic, and she doesn’t speak Spanish,” Ramirez said. “Her parents are from Cuba. She looks white, her skin is white, her hair is blond, but she marked that she is Hispanic. That’s really cool.”

The goal of the organization is to positively impact prospective students who visit the university.

“If they’re doing a walk through campus or a tour, they will see that there is a Latino union and get excited about coming to school – where there are people like them, that are studying and trying to get ahead of themselves,” Ramirez said.

One idea mentioned in the November meeting was the creation of a mentorship program for Latino students.

“Most of the time, we come from families where our parents didn’t go to college, where they don’t have that exp e r i e n c e , ” Ramirez said. “So they want some sort of mentorship program – some kind of guidance.”

For freshman nursing major Jesus Alvarez, it’s about breaking barriers, such as the lingering misconceptions.

“We are hardworking, honest and friendly people, and we are not here to steal jobs or live from the government,” he said. “We are here to follow the American dream and have a better future – more opportunities that maybe we don’t have in Mexico, such as a good college education and a good health system.”

Ramirez feels no different.

With it being election season, he said the group decided they wanted to host a town hall meeting on campus to address those issues.

“With Trump, [people] think that we’re rapists and criminals – but [students] were sharing that some of them are going to be teachers, some of them are going to be lawyers, some of them are going to be doctors – so they want to get a positive image out there,” Ramirez said.

As the new ideas coordinator for the UCM Office of Mentoring Advocacy and Peer Support, Tara Napoleone has been planning town hall meetings for underrepresented groups on campus, including one for Latino/Hispanics.

“I’m looking to get some solidarity among underrepresented groups, within themselves and the community, Napoleone said. “I’m also looking to see what it is that students in general need on campus.”

Napoleone will serve as the facilitator for the town hall meetings, leading the conversation among the participants.

“What we can expect is some good data that hasn’t been collected on campus before,” Napoleone said. “I’m doing focus groups, so each one of the students will have the opportunity to actually voice, in their own words, what it is that they’re missing or what they enjoy.”

The Latino/ Hispanic town hall meeting is scheduled for 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20, from in the Elliott Student Union ballroom.

“We don’t want to segregate ourselves between groups, Hispanics, Indian or Korean – but it’s part of this country that we’re each from different places,” Ramirez said. “At the end, we fit the puzzle.”

Town hall meetings to be hosted in the Elliott Student Union Ballroom:

Jan. 20 Latino/ Hispanic

Jan. 27 African American and students that identify as Black

Feb. 3 LGBTQIA

Feb. 10 Undergraduate international stu dents