Robert Or­tiz Ad­vo­cates for His­panic Her­itage Month

Bethel Uni­ver­sity has cel­e­brated the His­panic cul­ture through­out the month of Sep­tem­ber and Oc­to­ber through a va­ri­ety of in­clu­sive events.  

His­panic Her­itage Month is a time wherein the United States will cel­e­brate and rec­og­nize the con­tri­bu­tions of His­panic and Latin-X Amer­i­cans to the coun­try’s cul­ture.  

Through­out the month every­thing from bilin­gual wor­ship at chapel to Cam­pus Ac­tiv­i­ties events on the week­ends have taken place. Cam­pus Ac­tiv­i­ties have held events such as Salsa Night and His­panic Mu­sic Night, along with the Di­ver­sity & In­clu­sion Com­mit­tee host­ing a lun­cheon ti­tled "Ask Any­thing" that was open to the en­tire cam­pus on Fri­day, Oct. 4, 2019,  in the Pres­i­den­t's Din­ing Room. 

Res­i­dent Di­rec­tor, Robert Or­tiz, took it upon him­self, among other par­tic­i­pat­ing staff and fac­ulty on cam­pus, to be the voice and cre­ate aware­ness and recog­ni­tion for His­panic and Latin-X stu­dents.  

Robert Or­tiz is the new kid on the block, as a Res­i­dent Di­rec­tor for the Founder’s dorms on cam­pus. Hav­ing moved from Chicago with His wife and three chil­dren, Or­tiz grew up with a heart of wor­ship in the Puerto Ri­can cul­ture. As a res­i­den­tial stu­dent in the early 2000’s, he saw that His­panic Her­itage month was not be­ing cel­e­brated as it should be.  

Or­tiz says that, cur­rently, Bethel still has a lot of work, but we are headed in the cor­rect di­rec­tion with fac­ulty and staff that are open and will­ing to find ways to in­te­grate the His­panic cul­ture. 

His­panic Her­itage month was not an event that was orig­i­nally in the plans to be cel­e­brated at Bethel Uni­ver­sity this year, but three weeks be­fore the month started, ideas and plans were tossed around.  

Robert Or­tiz said, “I think that His­panic/​Latin-X stu­dents are scared, with every­thing in our so­ci­ety and gov­ern­ment that has been pushed onto them, be­cause of [il­le­gal] im­mi­gra­tion, which does af­fect their ef­forts in rep­re­sen­ta­tion.”  

Or­tiz speaks from an as­pect of be­ing ab­sent from cam­pus for 15 years. With the ab­sence of Regina Hill, many peo­ple on cam­pus have ex­pressed their con­cern in who is go­ing to rep­re­sent and will be the voice for mi­nori­ties.  

Or­tiz said, “I be­lieve and hope for bet­ter things, and I see peo­ple who want to be taught and want to know more about the cul­ture, but it’s go­ing to take a lot… in a few years, we’ll be the ma­jor­ity, so let’s act like it now.”  

Robert Or­tiz said, “Plans for in­clu­sive cul­ture in­te­gra­tion in 2020 will be some­thing big­ger, bet­ter, and greater.”