Located in the heart of the country’s third-largest city, the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) is a large public college that tries to meet the needs of its multicultural student body. It has a history of offering specialized services to Latino students.
In 1975, it launched Latin American Recruitment and Educational Services, or LARES, a separate program to attract Latinos, help them navigate admissions and encourage Hispanic students to graduate. LARES focuses on “recruitment, admissions and retention,” explains Hugo Teruel, its interim director who has been with the program for 20 years. LARES emerged, not from an initiative by the administration, but out of protests sparked by the civil rights movement in the U.S. Community Protests Launched LARES
In the early 1970s, students, faculty and community leaders were protesting the lack of programs for minorities at the University of Illinois-Chicago. At one point, the protest leaders occupied University Hall and demanded more services for the Latino community, which it said was being ignored. Many of the protestors noted that Latinos were admitted, but many dropped out and there weren’t enough services to meet their needs. In response, UIC administrators launched LARES, first as part of Latin American studies and soon as an independent program. At the outset, it had one full-time staff member and a minimal budget.
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