Since the spring of 2018, the New School’s Social Justice Hub could be found occupied by Latinx students sharing, creating, eating, and networking on any given Friday evening. The meetings were established by La Xente, a student organization dedicated to the wellbeing of Latinx students. Two years after their creation, this spring marks the first semester that the group has suspended their meetings and events. In light of the abrupt hiatus, Latinx students are working harder to find a communal space on campus.
“When you’re having a bad day and you want to vent to a friend, it’s kind of similar to that. You can go to [La Xente] and talk to them about your issues, and they can reflect back on how you’re feeling, and sympathize or empathize with you,” said Britanny Avila, third-year literary studies major at Lang.
While no board members of the group agreed to speak with the New School Free Press about the status or future of the group, former members of the group shared their experiences navigating a Latinx community at The New School in its absence.
While La Xente served as one source of community, Avila has been able to find a sense of belonging in other student-led groups. “I found other groups like Gender Venting and the Black Student Union that helped me bridge together my different identities,” said Avila, who identifies as Black and Honduran.
“They were the first group that I found, along with other groups later on, that I felt like I really connected with,” Avila said of La Xente. “They really helped me come to terms with and understand my Latindad.”
Avila shared that La Xente and BSU have been spaces for her to talk about uncomfortable situations inside and outside the classroom. “If I’m the only Black person or Latinx in the room, I can go to someone in BSU or La Xente and talk about those experiences and know that they’ll be there, “ Avila said.
Students aren’t the only ones seeking out community on campus, but faculty as well. Raúl Rubio, associate professor of Hispanic studies and chair of the New School’s language department, piloted a new course this semester, entitled “Latinx Lives.” (Full disclosure: one of the reporters and the editor for this story are students in Latinx Lives.)
When it came to designing Latinx Lives, Rubio said fostering an inclusive yet challenging environment for students was a top priority. “The texture of that class is very easygoing,” said Rubio. “It’s meant to be a comfortable place, but at the same time, from the very beginning, we established that it is a place where you can disagree.”
Rubio spoke to the diversity of the class, which includes students from across the New School who are both Latinx and non-Latinx. It’s this collaboration amongst students that Rubio says makes the class unique. “It provides a space for students which actually allows them to read things, interpret things and be part of a moment where they can elaborate and profoundly develop themselves in a community,” said Rubio.
The course is also the first at Lang to include “Latinx” in its title. “I felt that it was in a way my obligation to teach a course on Latinx lives,” said Rubio. “The Latinx label and the proliferation and people debating on whether we should adopt the label Latinx for our identity is very complicated and it’s very layered, and it has a lot to do with language,” added Rubio.
Olympia Rodriguez, a second-year Culture and Media major and Hispanic Studies minor, and former member of La Xente, is currently enrolled in Latinx Lives. Rodriguez said the class is a much-needed break from the white-dominated classes she’s enrolled in.
“It’s been really refreshing to be in a group of Latinx students again,” said Rodriguez. “I will say that it feels different because we’re in an academic setting. We can’t really go off the rails and really delve into stuff the way we did in La Xente,” said Rodriguez. “I liked having a place that would facilitate those conversations and feel like home.”
Rodriguez never received an official notice of La Xente’s hiatus. Instead, the news was received by word of mouth.
“My friend told me in the cafeteria that it was over,” said Rodriguez. “I wasn’t too shocked, because I noticed we were meeting less frequently.”
Anya Isabel Andrews, a third-year sociology major with Afro-Latina heritage, touched on how the infrastructure of the school presents an obstacle in socializing.
“It’s really hard to find community at this campus because it’s naturally disconnected. You have fragmented buildings, each of their own schools. That can be really hard” Andrews said.
An active community organizer for BSU, Andrews feels that The New School’s administration can do a better job of lending more support to marginalized communities on campus.
“The New School really expects to give a platform for people to build a community and nothing else. The expectation is for us to build it ourselves. While I understand that, I do struggle with it sometimes because sometimes we need support,” Andrews said.
For a better understanding of why the reporters chose to use “Latinx: when referring to this student population, read the New School Free Press’s article, “Does Latinx Mark The Spot For A Gender Neutral Spanish Language?”