La Raza Student Cultural Organization records

The La Raza Student Cultural Center grew out of the ethnic studies movement in higher education that began in the United States in the mid-1960s as a part of the Civil Rights movement.

Under pressure from the Latin Liberation Front, a student-led group of Chicana and Chicano students from colleges in the Twin Cities, the University of Minnesota began to address financial aid, student employment on campus, and student and faculty recruiting at the University. In particular, the Front strongly encouraged the creation of a Department of Chicano Studies at the University of Minnesota. Dissatisfied with the pace of the University's response, on October 26, 1971, twenty Chicano students occupied Morrill Hall, the Twin Cities administration building. Within three days of the occupation and ultimatum, College of Liberal Arts committees approved the proposal for a freestanding Chicano Studies department.

The Department of Chicano Studies accepted its first students in the fall of 1972 and was the first Chicano studies program in the Upper Midwest.

The engine that drove the creation of the academic department, the Latin Liberation Front, continued to maintain a campus presence. Graduate students identified with the protests leading to the Morrill Hall occupation renamed their organization the Chicano Student Coalition, which later changed names to the Chicano Coalition de Aztlan. This group focused on issues relating to supporting graduate education and retaining undergraduates. Undergraduates recruited into the Chicano Studies program affilated with the CCA as the Chicano Liberation Front and focused their energies on starting a student scholarship fund and social programming.

A critical component of the Chicano and Latino student organizational structure on campus was the creation of the Chicano-Latino Learning Resources Center. By 1977, the center, located in Walter Library, served as the location for counseling and academic support and as an informal center of social support. The CLLRC was staffed by professionals and managed as a unit within the Office of Minority and Special Student Affairs (OMSSA.)

By the mid-1980s, the two student groups merged and changed its name to La Raza ("The People") Cultural Center. The Cultural Center was and still is primarily student run, and plans cultural, social and educational events for both Chicano-Latino students on campus and the University community as a whole. Students from various North, Central and South American countries and cultures use the Center for both coalition-building activities centered around the larger Hispanic community and a focal point for social and academic support.