The Task Force is working to reach a Hispanic enrollment rate of 25% at the institution

DePaul’s Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) Task Force will be announcing and implementing its plan to reach a 25% Hispanic enrollment rate at the university this month. 

The Task Force was initiated in January of 2021 as a part of Designing DePaul, a program launched to help shape the future of the university. A Hispanic-Serving Institution is a college or university where at least 25% of students are Hispanic. If achieved, DePaul will join more than 500 other institutions considered HSI in the United States.

In 2022, around 23% of enrolled students were Hispanic, which made the university an emerging HSI because of the high percentage, according to José Perales, chair of the task force.  

“We’re at the cusp,” Perales said.  

The Task Force is made up of DePaul students and faculty who have been working on the plan since October of last year. While no specific details are known about their upcoming announcement, the goal of the plan is to help improve the education of all DePaul students, not just Hispanic students, according to Perales.

Becoming an HSI benefits Latino and non-Latino students alike. If the status is granted, DePaul can apply for federal grants that could provide additional resources to enhance the academic programs at the university.  

“These are known as capacity-building grants, so they’re supposed to help all students if we use them to address a process or a service or something that is needed at DePaul,” Perales said.

Hispanic and Latino people make up one-third of Chicago’s population. Perales said that reaching a 25% Hispanic enrollment would help foster and build a community of Latino students.

“There’s a big community of Hispanics around the city and the United States,” Alessandro Ciaglia, a student at DePaul, said. “I don’t see why that wouldn’t be possible.” 

Other Designing DePaul programs, including the Black Student Initiative and the Asian American and Native Pacific Islander Serving Institution, are also working to improve the education and lives of POC students.

“There’s a saying … ‘a rising tide lifts all boats,’” Perales said. “It’s a saying that one of my colleagues here in the office uses. [It means that] if we improve services for one student population, it’s also improving the services for all students so we can make their experience better.”

Header by Rafa Villamar