For Isaac Alessandro Ríos, a second-year at UC Santa Cruz, the university is obligated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) to protect Latiné and Hispanic students’ pathways to higher education. Now, due to federal attacks on HSI Initiatives across the nation, opportunities kick-started by UCSC’s HSI team are under attack.

“A lot of us who are Hispanic-identifying or Latiné-identifying are first-generation and low-income students,” Ríos said. “Without these resources, it’s going to be even more challenging and difficult -– not impossible -– but especially difficult. And it shouldn’t be.” 

UCSC is one of five University of California (UC) campuses that are currently designated as HSIs. This means that UCSC, as defined by the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), qualifies as a not-for-profit college where “at least 25 percent of the full-time equivalent undergraduate enrollment is Hispanic”.

Now, the federal government is pulling significant funds from HSI grants. UCSC’s HSI Initiative is responsible for a number of career readiness and college retention based programs, such as GANAS Career Pathways, GANAS Graduate Pathways, and Cultivamos Excelencia. Campus administration says it is unclear which programs are slated for off-boarding at this point in time. 

“It is too soon to determine which efforts may evolve or conclude, but decisions will be made thoughtfully, guided by the university’s enduring commitment to equity, inclusion, and student success,” said Erin Elliott, the Communications Director for Student Success and Campus Climate, in an email to City on a Hill Press. 

The federal administration’s removal of HSI grant funding leaves Ríos and millions of other Hispanic and Latiné students across the country without key support in their journeys to higher education under a federal administration that already aims to disadvantage them. 

Recently, Tennessee’s attorney general and Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), sued the U.S. Department of Education, arguing that the enrollment requirements for HSI certification are unconstitutional. The Department of Justice responded in a July 25 letter refusing to defend HSI’s constitutionality due to its 25 percent enrollment principle. 

Linda McMahon, the United States Secretary of Education, also announced on Sept. 10, a federal plan to reallocate “discretionary funds” for Hispanic-Serving Institutions to other programs. McMahon claimed that the cuts were due to HSI’s “discriminatory” use of “government-mandated racial quotas.”

“Serving a community that has been historically disadvantaged isn’t discrimination, it’s a step towards reparations, it’s a step towards truly democratizing our institutions,” Ríos said. “Especially because we’re making it easier for them [Hispanic and Latiné students] to stay here and have access to the same resources as white people do.”

While UCSC still holds HSI status, the Department of Justice’s prospective decisions on the unconstitutionality of HSIs looms. Dr. Saskias Casanova, an associate professor in the psychology department and director of the Migration, Identity, and Education Lab (MIEL) at UCSC, finds that regardless of the outcome, these cuts do not mean it’s the end of the line for HSI programming. 

“It’ll impact our university culture at every level,” Dr. Casanova said. “The programs are literally meant for the students, so if we don’t have that funding, we need to figure out a way to replace that funding.”

Under the mounting pressure of federal grant revocations, students, staff and faculty are fighting to uphold student rights to higher education. Daniel Castañeda, a third-year student at UCSC, says students hold as much agency and power as other roles within the institution. 

“Students need to organize, advocate, and mobilize their voices. Silence from us equals the university’s complicit agreement in disinvesting from our communities,” Castañeda said. “HSIs exist because these institutions were never built for us.”

“It is our duty to make sure that these initiatives and programs that uplift underserved communities continue to impact future generations.”