HBCUs Reach Out

To Latino Students  Schools cite similar needs and goals

By Ronald Roach

It had not occurred to Lorena Sajardo to consider Texas Southern University as a possible college until her high school soccer coach suggested during her senior year that she try out for the newly forming women’s soccer team at the Houston-based historically Black university. Despite having grown up in Houston, Sajardo admits to knowing almost nothing about TSU at the time. But she decided to give it a try after the

“At first, it was hard because there wasn’t much cultural outreach and support, but it’s gotten a lot better … I don’t have any complaints,” says Sajardo, a junior accounting major who is now on an academic scholarship.

Freshman Arlene Delgado arrived on the campus of Huston-Tillotson University with some idea of what to expect. Her older brother and a sister-in-law were both graduates of the private historically Black school in Austin, Texas. Delgado, the youngest of seven children in a Mexican American family from Brownsville, Texas, says she’s finding the comfort and acceptance she had hoped for.

“I wanted to attend a school with small classes where I could get a lot of attention and get to know my professors,” says Delgado, who expects to major in international business like her brother. 

Sajardo and Delgado are among a growing cohort of Hispanic students enrolling at historically Black colleges and universities. The trend has become most apparent at historically Black colleges and universities in Texas, North Carolina and Ohio, where officials have taken proactive steps to recruit and enroll Hispanic students. 

“We’re in Texas, where there’s a large Hispanic population. The needs of Hispanic communities are very similar to African-Americans,” says Dr. Larry Earvin, the president of Huston-Tillotson.