Student Groups
Please see Latino Student Groups Fall 2008 (PDF) for meeting times and appointed officers.
Alianza is a pan-Latino student group at Yale that seeks to unite students interested in sharing, celebrating, and learning about Latino Culture. The purpose of Alianza is to provide all interested students, Latino or not, with an opportunity to interact with each other through events and activities such as study breaks, discussion groups, dinners, and movie nights. Through the organization and its members, Alianza hopes to foster great solidarity among Latino students at Yale and to enhance the overall Latino presence on campus.
Amigas is a unique mentoring program that matches female high school students at Wilbur Cross High School with female college students at Yale. Through friendship, the high school students are motivated to complete high school and to make the kind of decisions that will help them become responsible adults. The Yale students serve as role models and mentors for these inner-city high school students.
Ballet Folklórico Mexicano's purpose is to provide the Yale Community with a vivid aspect of Mexican culture that had been missing throughout Yale's history. Given a diverse range of colloquial \ dances from various regions of Mexico, the goal is to offer a festive and educational form of entertainment that no group at Yale has attempted before: the traditional, Mexican folk dance-Ballet Folklórico. Ballet Folklórico Mexicano de Yale performs dances from the regions of Chiapas, Chihuahua, Zacatecas, Veracruz, and Jalisco.
The Cuban-American Undergraduate Student Association, better known as CAUSA, was established in 2005 to serve the needs of both Cuban and Cuban-American students by providing an open forum wherein to share and promote our common heritage. CAUSA also seeks to foster dialogue and raise public awareness pertaining to the social, political, and cultural issues affecting both the Cuban and the Cuban-American communities in the States and abroad.
Despierta Boricua is the Puerto Rican Undergraduate Student Organization at Yale University. Founded in 1972, the main objective of the organization is to foster a sense of community among Puerto Rican undergraduates at Yale. DB strives to meet this objective through advocacy efforts and by coordinating cultural, educational, and social events. DB also tries to increase undergraduate interaction with the New Haven community through community service initiatives.
The Dominican Student Association: QuisqueYalies was started at the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year. Our goals include sponsoring informative and social events that will aid in addressing issues concerning Dominicans and other Latinos. Also, we plan to concentrate our efforts on recruitment and retention of Dominican students by developing academic and personal support networks for undergraduate students and establishing networks with professionals and DSA alumni. DSA also strivies to serve Dominican communities in the US and abroad through community service. DSA intends to serve as a resource to the Yale community on Dominican affairs by obtaining historical and updated information about the Dominican Republic. So far, DSA has hosted dinners, parties, movie screenings and fundraisers. In the future, we hope our efforts will culminate in a Dominican themed conference at Yale that will bring our community together and empower us.
Yale's Hispanic Scholars Foundation Chapter facilitates the educational and professional success of Latino students by promoting principles and practices of high academic achievement. More specifically, the HSF Scholar Chapter helps students to leverage the resources 1) to attain their chosen degree (undergraduate and graduate); 2) to develop the pre-professional skills needed in post-degree professional life; 3) to serve as mentors and peer resources to younger students.
La Casa’s news magazine, La Fuerza, seeks 1) to inform and educate Yale students, faculty, and staff about social, cultural, and political issues important to the Latino community at Yale; 2) to educate, empower, and increase awareness among the Yale Latino community itself; 3) to promote and celebrate the diversity within the Latino community at Yale and elsewhere.
Latin American Students Organization assists Latin American students in adjusting to American culture by providing a comfortable social atmosphere with emphasis on cultural celebration. There are weekly dinners at La Casa Cultural or at a select dining hall and occasional weekend ventures to Mi Tierra Cafe, a New Haven club featuring salsa and merengue music. In order to foster a comfortable atmosphere, the organization refrains from political activities. Please e-mail the coordinator in order to be placed on the e-mail list.s
The purpose of the Latino Business Coalition is to aid in the education and professional development of all Yale University students. As a chapter of the National Hispanic Business Association (NHBA), the LBC also offers networking and occupational opportunities within the business community, while providing intellectual and cultural enrichment.
MAS (Math And Science) Familias works to support Latinos interested in math and science by creating familias comprised of upper-classmen, sophomores, and freshman. A community of scholars is formed through activities that include dinners with Yale alums in math/science, lab visits, social events, and weekly dinners.
Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán A Movimiento is a pursuit of greater gains by individuals united loyally with one another, focused not upon the status quo but instead striving to bring about respect and equality. The energy to lead the Movimiento stems from the creative consciousness of Estudiantes, driven not by self-righteous motives but by the firm belief that united as an organization the interests of the greater Chicano community can be fulfilled. The spirit that guides these Estudiantes Chicanos is rooted in their past, their homes, their heart, Aztlán. The spirit that gave their ancestors life, the spirit that thrived in the soul of the Mexica, is the same spirit that gives the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán strength to succeed and endure.
¡Oye! Poetry and performance are powerful forms of expression for ethnic minorities in the United States. Often outside of the collective consciousness, marginal communities have made themselves known through artistic production. The form collectively known as spoken word, an amalgam of poetry, prose, music, and theater, has given voice to narratives often overlooked. Able to be strident and bold, subtle and vulnerable, performers can speak to their personal journey while contextualizing their stories within larger communities.
At Yale, groups like Jook Songs and WORD developed the campus culture of spoken word. The groups put on performances that not only promote artistic expression, but also foster a dialogue on critical issues. Inspired by Jook Songs, which is dedicated to exposing works by Asian-American students, members of Yale’s Latino community came together in the fall of 2007 to establish ¡Oye!, a group that speaks to our unique experiences as Latinos in our various communities. ¡Oye! contributes the Latino voice to the swirl of spoken word on campus for students to relate to, question, or simply experience.
PorColombia is a network of university students in the United States, as well as foreign students with an invested interest in Colombia, who are committed to using their personal talents and institutional resources to benefit Colombia. The goal of the organization is to provide students with the means and support to share information, innovate, and engage in collaborative initiative focused on Colombia. This is accomplished in three ways: first, to form a solid community of Colombians and friends of Colombia across the United States; second, to encourage and assist members to return to Colombia in the future; and third, to raise awareness and inform foreign students of the situation in Colombia.
Sabrosura: Latino Student Dance at Yale brings together students interested in Latino/Latin American dance in order to foster solidarity among the various cultures of Latin America while exhibiting these cultural nuances through music and dance. With this in mind, Sabrosura hopes to share with both the Yale and New Haven communities the cultural expressions of our various members. In so doing, we hope to create a space in which students can use the medium of dance to teach and learn about one another’s culture. The last and most important aim of Sabrosura is to end the year with a show designed to celebrate these cultural differences and so enhance cultural relations amongst the Yale community.
Students of Mixed Heritage and Culture (SMHAC) provides an alternative venue for the discussion of race at Yale, one directed not by a shared racial identity, but by a shared racial awareness. SMHAC represents the numerous backgrounds and identities embodied on the Yale campus. The group hopes to expand the discussions of race on campus to include individuals from multiracial backgrounds.
¡Teatro! Yale’s first Latino/Latin-American theater ensemble is committed to the continuation and evolution of Latino/Latin-American theatre on Yale’s campus and the New Haven community. We aim to bring the rich voices of Latino and Latin-American dramatists to fruition, while creating a unique atmosphere wherein students and supporters of Latino/Latin-American theatre can network, learn, and come together.
Yale Mexican Student Organization Our goal is to promote the presence of Mexico at Yale and the presence of Yale in Mexico by organizing social events, cultural activities, forums, and seminars. YMSO was founded on 2004 by students from almost every corner of Yale: undergraduates, graduates, and professional students.
Ypsaniola is devoted to serving people living in the Dominican Republic, especially those that suffer from serious poverty and whose human rights are violated. These people include those of Batey Libertad, a Haitian migrant community outside of Santiago that strives to be a model for other bateys seeking to empower themselves. Yspaniola members travel to the Dominican Republic twice a year on community service missions.
