La CASA celebrates their 50th anniversary

This past September, the Latinx/Chicanx Center for Advocacy and Student Affairs (La CASA) celebrated its 50th anniversary. Located on the fourth floor of the Student Union building, La CASA provides Latinx-identifying students with a sense of community while allowing them to further embrace their cultural identities.

One of the main goals of La CASA is to raise awareness on the importance of Latinx issues as well as highlight the level of diversity that is portrayed within the Latinx community through hosted events and services. These events include meet and greets, where “students come in and we just play Lotería with them. Seeing the students mingle with each other, that’s our goal,” student worker, senior Daniel Recinos states.

Another event that La CASA hosts is Lotería Night, “I think we can all get together, learn more about each other, and a little competitiveness. I’ve seen, in the two events that I’ve done, I’ve seen multiple different people that I haven’t seen at La CASA,” recalled junior Anahi Jimenez.

“For me it means seeing students have a safe space, Latina students especially,” said Recino. Placing special emphasis on the Latina population, Recinos also noted that for Latina students, at a predominantly white institution (PWI), it may not always be welcoming. Having a center such as La CASA provides a safe space because it is specifically built for them and being surrounded by other Latina students provides a certain level of comfort.

In addition to providing the Latinx students with a safe space and community, La CASA allows Latinx students to embrace their cultural backgrounds without fear of judgements. “At first I didn’t feel like I had a space on campus, I struggled a lot with imposter syndrome,” said Jimenez. Before finding La CASA, Jimenez recalled how it was challenging to express her Latinidad as she had worn her Mexican hair on campus and received microaggressions. However, “La CASA provides a space where you can listen to your Spanish music, talk in Spanish, where you can just embrace everything that is being a Latino,” Jimenez said.

Throughout previous La Casa events, it gives Latinx students the opportunity to get to know one another within the Latinx community as well as getting more in touch with their cultural backgrounds. “I always want our events to be diverse and capture the entirety of Latin America,” says Recinos. To maintain the diversity of the events, one important factor is food. This aspect is one of the main ways that people of all Latin American backgrounds can come together to appreciate their individual cultures and learn more about the different Latinx heritages that reside within Latin America.

In addition to allowing students to have a safe place where they can embrace their cultural backgrounds, La CASA offers numerous resources for its students ranging from academic resources, resources for undocumented and first generation students and even resources for mental health and wellness.

La CASA has become a second home for many generations of Latinx students over the past 50 years and will continue to do so as more Latinxs students are getting admitted into USC each year.