2 Colleges Praised for Latino Programs

A national magazine has listed two Ventura County colleges among the top schools for Latino students in the United States.

Cal Lutheran University of Thousand Oaks and Oxnard College were among 90 California schools recognized for commitment to Latino recruitment, services and cultural programs by the New Jersey-based Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education magazine.

The distinction is a first for Oxnard College, nearly half of whose 6,300 students are Latino. It is the second consecutive year the list has included Cal Lutheran, which has a 13.8% Latino population.

Cal Lutheran officials attribute the honor to the university’s many minority programs.

“We work very hard to do a lot of diversity programming,” spokeswoman Lynda Fulford said. “It is a good recognition of that.”

The list was compiled from information collected in surveys that the magazine sent to 3,800 schools nationwide.

Of the approximately 2,000 schools that responded, only 700 made the list.

The purpose of the list, according to magazine spokeswoman Sue Lopez, is to help Latino parents and high school students select colleges that are especially welcoming to Latino students.

“A student will feel more comfortable at a school where there are Hispanic faculty members, Hispanic studies programs and Hispanic cultural events,” Lopez said.

Cal Lutheran’s newest multicultural program, implemented earlier this year, coordinates new students with peer advisors to discuss issues of diversity.

“DiversiTies” was created to prepare students to enter a diverse work force and community, Fulford said.

Oxnard College offers English language immersion classes, services that help immigrants with citizenship requirements and community mentoring programs for underserved communities.