Patrick James Dela Cruz, the student assistant for the multicultural center. Photo by Kyle Umeda.
By Elizabeth Guillen
Staff Writer
Holding an immigration status creates a unique kind of college experience. Those students do not have the same access to financial support and admission options as their fellow classmates do. This is one of many reasons the Toro Dreamer Success Center was created.
The center serves as a safe space for all “Dreamers” and allies.
“This center helps those that are undocumented by showing them that they can go to school and that the center can help them find scholarships to help pay for their education,” said Patrick James Dela Cruz, the student assistant for the multicultural center.
“Since 2001, undocumented students meetings eligibility requirements have been able to enroll in public colleges and universities, while paying in-state tuition,” according to the California State University website. website. In 2011, Governor Jerry Brown signed the California DREAM Act, allowing undocumented students to apply for and receive state-based financial aid and institutional scholarships.
Due to privacy laws, there is no official number for the number of CSUDH students who are Dreamers. However, according to the CSU website, there are an estimated 8,000 undocumented students enrolled in the CSU as a whole. As of December, 2017, nine CSU campuses offered Dreamer Success Centers, and two more will open this year. CSUDH’s was launched in 2016.
Corina Benavides-Lopez, Ph.D., assistant professor for the department of Chicana/o studies, worked with Paz Oliverez, Ph.D., associate vice president of student success services, to help create the CSUDH center. With two years of research, along with other resources, the success center opened in 2016 and is located in the Loker Student Union room 110B.
“The Dreamer Success Center hosts various workshops that help undocumented students navigate their way through the legal system,” said Dela Cruz. “Among the workshops, there are Immigration and Customs Enforcement [seminars] in which it is explained to students what they should do and what their legal rights are if ICE shows up at their door.”
In addition to the workshops that the center provides, it also offers a Healing Circle.
“Undocumented students attend the event and talk about their feelings about the current [political] climate and the fears that they may have,” said Dela Cruz. “The school psychologists attend these events to provide any help that the students may need.”
The center has areas where students can lounge or study. The center also provides postings and a newsletter that gives updates on proposals, the creation or changes in laws that may directly affect undocumented students and their families.
“Having a ‘Dreamer’ center doesn’t allow ‘Dreamers’ to be invisible,” said Benavides-Lopez. “History shows that we will always thrive; the ‘Dreamer’ center shows that we are still navigating and thriving.”
