The Personal Touch Lures Latino Pupils to Whittier College

Cristina Obregon was classic college material when she graduated from Santa Fe High School in June, 1984.

In four years, she never missed the honor roll, qualifying for a statewide scholars group. After school, she served as treasurer at a church and worked part time to help support her mother. She had the grades, good citizenship--and she was Latino.

At a time when higher education was crying out for minority students, college counselors say Obregon was a sure bet for almost any four-year institution.

But she passed on the Ivy League and didn’t bother applying to California’s big-name campuses. Instead, she stayed close to home, choosing to enroll at Whittier College, a small, liberal arts school in the Puente Hills that has become a magnet for Latinos.

“It was important to go where I could get personal attention, where the student-teacher ratio was not 200 to 1,” said Obregon, a sophomore biology major who lives at home and works several hours a week at Santa Fe High as a college adviser.

“I didn’t want to get lost in lecture halls filled with 300 other freshmen,” she said. “The personal touch at Whittier sold me.”

Small Size, Support Services

Since the mid-1970s, Whittier College has had one of the highest percentages of Latino students among any of California’s 123 public or private four-year institutions. Despite an annual tuition that now tops $8,000, Latinos like Obregon have steadily flocked to the century-old Whittier campus because of its small size, network of support services, a strong Latino alumni group and longtime administrator, Martin Ortiz.

The son of a Mexican who rode with Pancho Villa, Ortiz was one of Whittier College’s first Latino graduates four decades ago.

Now in his early 60s, the charismatic Ortiz guides the college’s Center of Mexican-American Affairs, a program credited by many, both on- and off-campus, with luring large numbers of Latinos to former President Richard Nixon’s alma mater.

For years a predominantly white campus, the complexion of Whittier’s enrollment changed dramatically after the center opened in 1968. Through Ortiz, the center has tapped private and corporate sources for tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships for Latinos, many of them first-generation college students from low-income families.

20% Latino

And while the faculty remains largely white, the college today is roughly 20% Latino.

There are many cultural and economic barriers to enrolling minorities in private colleges.

The expense alone drives many Latinos to cheaper two-year community colleges, where 80% of all California Latinos in higher education are enrolled. Many elder Latinos view college as a threat to the family unit, taking their children away from home--perhaps forever, Ortiz and other educators say. Other Latinos simply need their children at home to care for other family members or to contribute money to the household.

In the past decade, Whittier College has successfully wooed the Latino community through its Mexican-American center, which serves all Spanish-surnamed students. By supplying scholarships, tutors and guidance, the center eases the transition from the comfort of a neighborhood high school to the unknown of a college campus.

Percentage Jumped

In 1970, only 115 of the college’s 2,078 students, or 5.5%, were Latino. But five years later, the percentage of Latinos had jumped to 16.8% or 185 students, while total enrollment had dropped in half. In 1979, a record 270 Latinos--roughly one-quarter of the college’s undergraduate enrollment of 1,055--attended classes at Whittier.

Today, Latinos make up about one-fifth of Whittier’s 1,050 students--the highest percentage among the 62 members of the Assn. of Independent California Colleges and Universities, a Sacramento-based coalition of four-year private schools.

“Educationally it is so critical to expose people with different backgrounds--both culturally and economically--to one another,” said Allan Prince, executive vice president of Whittier College. “Otherwise the student body is too homogenous, too bland. Without diversity there can’t be an honest exchange of ideas.”

Prince and others point to the large presence of Latinos as evidence of Whittier’s commitment to ethnic diversity. Other minority groups are represented in smaller numbers, however. Last year, blacks made up 4% of the student body and Asians about 4.5%.

Few Minority Faculty

Minority representation among faculty is also low, although improving, said William Wadsworth, acting dean of faculty and a professor at the college since the early 1970s.

In 1983 only six of the 79 full-time faculty members were minorities, including two Latino professors. Today there are 10 minority members on the faculty: three black, three Asian and four Latino, including two new Latino instructors hired this year.

While acknowledging that the college must improve the number of minority hirings, Wadsworth said it is difficult because the pool of qualified instructors with doctorates is small.

“Clearly, we’ve got our work cut out to attract more minority professors, particularly when you look at the number of Latino students,” he said. “But it’s not easy. Staff turnover is small because 75% of the faculty is tenured.”

Attracting Latino students today is a far easier task, especially in Southern California.

Roughly 3 million Latinos live in the region, about one-fourth of the total population in the Los Angeles Basin. Latinos make up a majority of the 550,000 students in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest.

Two decades ago, Whittier College was surrounded mostly by burgeoning white suburbs. But no longer. Eighty percent of Pico Rivera’s residents are Latino, while next door in Santa Fe Springs, 61% of the population is Latino.

Even in Whittier, which was settled by Pennsylvania Quakers in 1887 and until recently remained mostly white and unaffected by the Latino migration to neighboring cities, the number of Latinos is growing, now accounting for roughly one-quarter of the city’s 71,000 residents.

“There’s little doubt we’ve benefited greatly from operating in the heart of one of the great population shifts in this century,” said Ortiz, who graduated from Whittier College in 1948, only to return as a instructor 10 years later. “But it takes more than simply putting an open sign on the front door to attract students--especially Hispanics.”

Location a Factor

Not all private colleges have successfully captured Latino students. Some four-year institutions, like Redlands University in San Bernardino County, have had trouble recruiting minorities because they are not in Latino population centers.

“Ethnic diversity is so important,” said Steve Hankins, Redlands’ director of admissions. “It’s not healthy to have an entire student body filled with blond, blue-eyed students from Orange County.

“But this university is a difficult sell because we are not located near a large minority population center,” he said. “Those centers provide a support system to make minorities feel comfortable. Right now, it takes courage for a minority to come here and overcome the myth that we are (a) white country club in the sticks.”

Foreseeing the region’s Latino explosion, a small group of Latino alumni at Whittier College created the Center of Mexican-American Affairs in 1968. But it wasn’t until Ortiz, a former Marine, became its full-time director three years later that the fledgling center took hold.

Viewed With Suspicion

“Historically, Hispanics have viewed college with some suspicion--a threat to strong family ties because it draws young ones away who otherwise could work and support parents,” said Martin Montano, past president of the college’s 1,200-member Latino alumni association, the Alianza de Los Amigos (Alliance of Friends). Montano was also one of the founders of the Mexican-American affairs center.

“We had to overcome that shortsightedness and teach (Latino parents) the value of an education,” he said. “The center became the vehicle to reach these families, to tell them there are alternatives to community colleges.”

In California, many Latinos enroll in two-year community colleges with the hope of transferring to four-year institutions once academic requirements are fulfilled, but few make it. One reason is lack of support at home to pursue a college degree, said Ortiz, who spends much of his time quieting fears of Latino parents whose children want to break with family tradition and go away to college.

Sandra Pisano was such a student. She grew up in East Los Angeles, the oldest of four children and a graduate of Garfield High School in June 1982.

‘Hard to Fit In’

An honor roll student, Pisano was accepted to UCLA, but chose Whittier because of its size. “It was my dream to go to college, to be something more,” recalled the 20-year-old psychology major. “But it was hard to fit in.

“I had never spent much time away from home,” she said. “It seemed like everyone else was so comfortable, and I couldn’t wait to get home at night.”

At first Pisano didn’t live on campus, which she now admits was a mistake because it further isolated her from other students. When she wanted to move to the dorms, her mother balked. “My mother couldn’t bear the thought of her eldest leaving home,” Pisano said. At one point, she nearly dropped out.

Ortiz remembers the day both Pisano and her mother were in his office.

“Her mother was so upset that her child was not happy,” said Ortiz, who operates out of a tiny corner office on the fourth floor of the Administration Building. “They were both in my office in tears.”

Reassured Mother

In the following weeks, Ortiz spent time visiting Pisano in class and talking with her instructors. He also telephoned Pisano’s mother, reassuring her that the decision to keep her daughter in school was sound. “It’s a long, often drawn-out process, but you have work individually with students and parents,” Ortiz said. “There’s no secret formula, just a lot of care.”

Now Pisano is a junior, planning to attend graduate school, and her brother Robert is a freshman on campus.

Monica Espinosa, an English instructor at Whittier College since 1983, said first-generation Latino students usually have no one at home to turn to for advice. That’s why, she said, it is important to have minority faculty members to act as role models.

“These students don’t need special treatment, just someone who understands their dilemma,” said Espinosa, who said she believes her ethnicity was one reason she was hired.

No One to Share Experience

“For many Latino students, there’s no one at home to share the college experience with, someone to help them survive freshman composition class or adjust to dorm living,” she said. “That’s why it is important I work a bit harder to listen to their problems”

But like many four-year institutions across the country, Whittier College has experienced a decline in minority enrollment.

Contributing factors to the slippage, college officials said, include tougher academic standards, cuts in government spending for student aid and fewer minority high school graduates. While Latinos make up about one-quarter of all students in California public schools, the Department of Education estimates the Latino high school dropout rate at 45%.

As part of his effort to bring Latinos to Whittier College, one of Ortiz’ primary missions is raising money. In recent years, the center has raised on its own, about $100,000 annually, with the money going for scholarships and to run the center.

Many Work Part Time

Last year, 84% of Whittier’s Latinos received an average of $4,316 in financial aid, according to college records. Even so, many of the students work part time to pay living expenses. Pedro Morales, a sophomore computer science major from Pico Rivera, worked three jobs last summer to build his savings account, including 60 hours a week at a local department store.

“We are seeing what it will be like when we graduate,” said Morales, whose brother David also attends Whittier. “Sure it’s hard, but the alternative--working full time without much future--isn’t good.”

Obregon, who works part time at a day-care center and wants to become a pediatrician, agrees that the sacrifices she has to make to attend Whittier are worth it. “Without financial aid, I wouldn’t be here,” she said. “I work now to pay for a few extras around home. But I think what I’m doing now will pay big dividends someday.”

‘It was important to go where I could get personal attention, where the student-teacher ratio was not 200 to 1.’

LATINO UNDERGRADUATES

Comparison of full-time undergraduates enrolled at Whittier and other private colleges in fall, 1984.

College Total enrollment No. Latino % Latino Whittier 980 189 19.2 Loyola Marymount 3,919 572 15.0 La Verne 827 119 14.3 Occidental 1,600 110 6.8 Pomona College 1,325 89 6.7 California Lutheran 1,400 86 6.1 Azusa Pacific 1,529 81 5.3 Redlands 1,203 62 5.2 Pepperdine 6,894 268 3.9 Cal. private colleges 180,000 17,200 9.5 U.S. private colleges 2.6 million 155,000 6.1

Figures show changes in Latino enrollment at Whittier College from 1940 to 1984.

Year No. Latino students Total enrollment % Latino 1940 3 512 0.5 1950 18 1,088 1.6 1960 54 1,285 4.2 1970 115 2,078 5.5 1975 185 1,100 16.8 1979 270 1,055 25.5 1980 247 1,037 23.8 1981 225 993 22.6 1982 215 966 22.2 1983 198 974 20.3 1984 189 980 19.2