The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the largest and oldest nationwide Hispanic civil rights organization in the United States.
Founded in 1929, the league has never had a Tennessee-based chapter until last semester when the very first one was created on Lipscomb’s campus.
A group of Latin-American students brought their interest in LULAC to the attention of Dean of Intercultural Affairs Lisa Steele last semester. After researching the organization, Steele decided “it was something that would be worthy of Lipscomb students’ attention.”
“I just feel so empowered because LULAC is really a culmination of all the passions that I have personally as far as civil justice, civil rights, the Hispanic community and providing a voice for minorities,” junior LULAC student Jacky Gomez said. “LULAC really encompasses all of that and I see a lot of potential to grow because it is a national organization and it is recognized.”
This past week, eight of Lipscomb’s LULAC students traveled to Washington, D.C. for LULAC’s Emerge Conference, a four-day seminar specifically for collegiate LULAC members.
“The Emerge Conference is an annual event where Hispanic students from all the different states come together to discuss policies like healthcare and how it’s affecting the immigrant community currently,” junior LULAC student Jhoselin Revolorio said. “We also talked about economics, education and immigration reform and got to listen to different representatives and congressmen who had different points of view.”
Not only did Lipscomb LULAC students get a chance to hear from policymakers, but they also had the opportunity to talk to them, according to senior Carlos Ruiz.
“We talked to people from the department of education, from the Peace Corps, and other government departments,” Ruiz said. “So, I think that’s really important to foster that sense of advocacy and that sense of responsibility as Latinos living here in the United States.”
In total, 150 university students from more than 20 states were able to attend 75 meetings, panels and workshops during last week’s Emerge Conference. They also had the chance to experience political lobbying and networking firsthand.
As a result of their time at the Emerge Conference, Lipscomb’s student LULAC chapter plans to have a voter registration drive this spring.
“We had one workshop that was really focused on what we can do and action that we can take here at our school, which we decided could be voter registration,” Gomez said. “So we’re happy to announce that we’re going to start a voter registration drive here on Lipscomb’s campus.”
The group’s goal is to have 200 voters registered by this coming July.
“We need to make sure that our students have a voice in the political system and the best way to have that is to vote,” Steele said.
As Lipscomb’s LULAC student chapter looks to the future, they plan on being a source of information on policies regarding education, healthcare and immigration reform, and particularly how these policies impact the Latino-American community.