By Betty Abate
With a growing student population comes a change. Front Range is preparing to receive a federal designation as a Hispanic-Serving Institution.
President Colleen Simpson said a task force made of staff and faculty was put in effect last August during a visit to Larimer’s journalism class on March 30th.
She said the committee is working to implement programs that would best serve the Hispanic community.
A Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) is a title given by the U.S. Department of Education when an institution is made of 25% Hispanic students.
This title creates grant eligibility from the federal government.
In 2021, FRCC’s student population was 61.2% white and 24.2% Hispanic according to data from the National Center for Education Statistic.
FRCC’s Department of International Research found a 20% increase in Latinx students in the past 15 years.
Dr. Simpson said there is a cultural change and a “paradigm shift” that needs to happen.
She said that predominantly white institutions need to meet Hispanic students with a different mindset, “so that they don’t see the students as a deficit but see the students as a strength.”
She said this could include changing the verbiage of policies or procedures to include common language that all students could understand.
The student life director of the school said the school is planning to create a multicultural center.