Diversity lacking at Sacramento City College
Some services are there, but critics say more is needed for growing population
In his times of need, Sacramento City College student Thomas Resendez visits the Raza Center, a Latino student affinity hub that employs Latino staff and offers a welcoming space for students.
“When I'm having problems in my personal life, and it's affecting my school work, I can be able to come to them and they can understand that,” said Resendez, a history major.
But everywhere else on campus, Resendez struggles to find mentors who look like him.
Latino students are the largest demographic group at Sacramento City College, making up 32% of enlisted students. The college is deemed a HispanicServing Institution, which allows it to receive grant funding from the U.S. Department of Education because its Hispanic student population is over 25%.
But employees like Mauricio Gonzalez, who has been at the community college for two decades, said this designation isn't reflective of the college and the district's commitment to Latino students — it's only because the population has grown, not because of the college's or the district's efforts, he said.
“There are no Spanish materials for people anywhere,” Gonzalez said. “We have a massive ESL (English as a second language) department, but provide no materials anywhere in terms of Spanish-speaking communities.”
Gonzalez criticized the effectiveness of HispanicServing Institution funding and how it's allocated. He said the only time he sees Latino faculty hired is through these temporary funding opportunities.
“When those grants go away, those people go away, too,” Gonzalez said. “The institution does not internalize those programs.”
Sacramento City College currently benefits from two five-year grants. Lee Crystal, the college's spokesperson, said these grants fund the HSI Early College program, which dual enrolls low income and Latino students into courses at the college. The grant also funds Caminos de la Ciudad, a program that assists second-year students through their “academic and personal journeys.”
Representation of Latino faculty is also disproportionate to its student population. According to the college's fall 2023 head count, Latino full-time faculty make up 15% of the population at Sacramento City College, while Latino part-timers are 12% of adjunct faculty population.
Across the Los Rios Community College District, Hispanic students make up 26% of the population (in fact, all of Los Rios' four campuses are HispanicServing Institutions).
But districtwide, Latino instructors made up 11% of the faculty population in 2022.
Having a teacher of the same ethnic background as a student of color benefits their “social-emotional, academic and behavioral outcomes,” according to a study from Annenberg Brown University. The study found that students who had an instructor of color experienced a 42% decrease “in the probability of being chronically absent in high school.”
This suggests students of color significantly benefit from being taught by an instructor from their ethnic background.
For Resendez, he says he resonated with the courses taught by Latino instructors. He found their lessons to be more culturally competent than those of nonLatino professors when it came to subjects like Mexican history.
`Lonely' experience
Roberto Chacon-Gutiérrez Young is a professor in the college's film and theater department. They use the term Latine, a genderfluid term for Latino people.
They recalled during their first staff meeting being the only non-White faculty member in the room.
“It was shocking to me as a faculty member,” ChaconGutiérrez said.
Eight years later, they remain the sole full-time Latino professor and instructor of color in their department.
Adding more diverse faculty has been a “significant part” of the district's equity work, said Gabe Ross, the college's chief strategy and communications officer. He said this issue is “so important” to the district board it's been integrated into their strategic plan.
Los Rios also has a Faculty Diversity Internship program, aimed to recruit “qualified instructors who mirror the racial and ethnic diversity of the Los Rios Community College District service area.”
Ross said though the district has made “great progress” over hiring faculty in the past decade years, they still have a “a long way to go to make sure that our colleges truly reflect the diversity and inclusivity that are so central to our mission.”
“It's a goal that we are working toward every single day, in both big and small ways,” Ross said.
A 2023 audit of the California Community Colleges showed that campuses system wide struggle to recruit non-White faculty, especially from Latino communities. The Latino student-to-faculty gap has remained significantly low for the past 20 years, the audit stated.
But this gap isn't just in California, it's across the country.
Black and Latino professors continue to be underrepresented in comparison to students and professionals from the same backgrounds, The Associated Press reported this week. Latino people make up 8.3% of professional workers and 19% of students, yet they only make 6.3% of faculty nationwide.