YO

 

BU

 

BEING A HISPANIC IMMIGRANT AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY

 

By Pedro Pizano May 29, 2009

 

“Completely love it. Completely fit in,” said Bernardo Vargas, 20, and SMG Rising Junior about being an international student and an immigrant for at least four years at Boston University. Still, having been born in Monterrey, Mexico, he told me the following story: “When the swine flu epidemic broke out, my boss called me to ask if I was feeling well, if maybe I had a cold or was coughing.” I asked Bernardo if he thought his boss only called because he was Mexican. Vargas didn’t hesitate for a second and answered: “Yes…. that is precisely the expression of America’s long time fear of the unknown.”

 

But for BU students Melody Feo, 20, and Hector Oseguera, 21, daughter and son of former illegal immigrants and now naturalized American citizens, the unknown has never posed any problems for them. They both grew up in neighborhoods that were primarily Hispanic, and as Bernardo, they have no problem fitting in. “I have never felt any pressure from anyone or anything about being different,” said Melody. She remembers, though, that when she was 8, she realized that she couldn’t participate in any of the extra-curricular activities like soccer at her elementary school because her parents were not legal residents of Parsippany, NJ. It felt like “a cold sadness that swept through the house, I was too young to understand.” She feels today that it was both her parent’s longing for Colombia and the full realization of her parent’s decision to move from Bogotá, Colombia into the unknown opportunities and challenges of the American Dream.

 

 

It is precisely this dream that has made Boston University world famous. And it is precisely that speech that made the most recognized BU alumni resonate in the minds of all who have read it or heard it. The president’s council at BU knows it, of course, and in their mission statement for the global future of BU, they write:

 

As alumnus Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote in 1968, “This is the great new problem of mankind. We have inherited a large house, a great ‘world house’ in which we have to live together—black and white, Easterner and Westerner,

Gentile and Jew, Catholic and Protestant, Moslem and Hindu—a family unduly

separated in ideas, culture and interest, who, because we can never again live

apart, must learn somehow to live with each other in peace.” Dr. King’s words

are even more relevant today. At Boston University, building a “world house” means teaching our students to be “global citizens” literate in complex global issues, doing research and applying it to solve problems, and serving humanity in ways that further the vision of a just and peaceful global community.

 

 

In that same speech it says that BU has “one of the highest numbers of international students among American colleges and universities.” The incoming freshman class for 2007 was 68% white, 15% Asian, 7% international students, 7% Hispanic, and 2% black. (See figure 1)

 

In 2007, including graduate students and non-degree students, 12.8 % of the university-wide student population was Hispanic. That means that were about 4,000 students that declared themselves as Hispanics and who knows how many others who consider themselves, Caucasian or white. (See figure 2)

 

Melody, Hector and Bernardo declared themselves as Hispanic though they are to all eyes and ears, American. They’ve never denied their culture, speak their mother tongue with perfect fluidity and the three of them want to go back to their country when they have finished their studies. “Those who speak badly about immigrants,” says Hector, “are those who don’t want to do any research but that somehow feel entitled to speak.” For example, he says, “that he has never understood why Americans complain about the existence of a Spanish Aisle at supermarkets.” One would think they would have gotten over it a long time ago.

 

 

 

Figure 1

 

 

http://www.bu.edu/dbin/infocenter/content/index.php?pageid=909&topicid=12

 

 

Figure 2

Enrollment By Geographical Distribution:

 

Total University Fall 2007

           

           

 

	Undergraduate	Graduate	Non-degree	Total
FOREIGN STUDENTS	1,054	2,458	682	4,194
PERCENT OF THE TOTAL POPULATION	6.3%	18.7%	23.3%	12.8%

http://www.bu.edu/dbin/infocenter/content/index.php?pageid=904&topicid=12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOURCE LIST:

 

Bernardo Vargas, 20 Finance Student at SMG, rising Junior born in Monterrey, Mexico. F-1 student visa. (contact information required?)

 

Melody Feo, 20, IR, rising Junior born in Bogotá Colombia. Permanent Resident of New Jersey. Parents were illegal immigrants for 7 years. (double check major) (contact information required?)

 

Hector Oseguera, 21, Political Science, Rising Senior. Born in NJ from illegal immigrant parents from Dominican Republic and Honduras. (contact information required?)

 

JOURNAL: New England journal of public policy: a journal of the John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs, University of Massachusetts at Boston. PUBLISHER: Boston, Mass: The Institute, c1984. v. : ill. ; 26 cm. ISSN 0749-016X. Mugar Library JS431 .N5

 

Statistics come from Wikipedia and Boston University Info Center. These two sources have exactly the same info on demographics; it’s just formatted differently.

 

President's Council on the Global Future Mission Statement Vision PDF. Taken from www.bu.edu/globalfuture/news/PICMissionStatement.pdf on Friday 29,th 2009. NO DATE!!!

 

Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education's http://www.hispanicoutlook.com/top100_focus.htm?section=b

 

BU TODAY article published on February 22, 2007: “Today’s Latino Leaders, Planning for Tomorrow.” Accessed on Friday 29, 2009 at http://www.bu.edu/today/node/2676.

 

All pictures taken from face book profiles of the actual interviewees unless otherwise noted.