X Marks the Spot: Reflecting on the LatinX Student Experience at the University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UofT) is home to students from many cultural groups. Students who identify as Latinx are among them, making up 4% of first-year students and 2% of senior students in 2017. To better understand the needs of these students, the Innovation Hub partnered with Dr. Berenice Villagómez, the Latin American Studies Coordinator. We used the course LAS 401 (Latinos in Canada: Toronto) to introduce LAS students to design thinking. Through collaborative projects, the students found key insights about Latinx experiences at UofT.
Fall/Winter 2019-2020
How does design thinking help us understand LatinX students?
Latinx students use their time at university to explore their cultural self-identity. As part of their exploration, they want to meet peers from similar cultural backgrounds and to see themselves represented in services and programs. Finally, they often work alongside their studies, which adds stressors. This report explains these themes and brings them to life through personas and design principles. The included recommendations will help UofT departments provide Latinx students with more successful campus experiences.
KEY FINDINGS
With the aim of diving deep into these experiences, The Innovation Hub sought to understand LatinX students to inspire our design, rather than jumping to solutions. By doing this, we move beyond the what questions to the underlying whys and hows. Thus, we reached insights that might otherwise be obscured by designers’ own assumptions. Our insights helped us identify four key themes:
- What It Means to Be Me: For many students, self-identifying as Latinx is a journey. These students face barriers along the way, stemming from personal doubts and peer reactions.
- Connected Through Culture: Students develop individual and group identities through cultural connections. They want to communicate their beliefs, values, and customs with others like them.
- Is Anybody Here for Me: Many participants said that they need some type of support during university. They found help to varying degrees. Those who felt under-supported encountered both academic and personal obstacles during their studies.
- Money Matters: Latinx students talked about their families’ expectations that they be diligent paid workers. It is not uncommon that families suffer a shift in economic status to immigrate.
What It Means to Be Me: For many students, self-identifying as Latinx is a journey. These students face barriers along the way, stemming from personal doubts and peer reactions. For example, Canadian-born, non-Spanish-speaking students grapple with their “legitimacy.” Many students also face exclusionary assumptions from both outside and inside the Latinx community. There is no single way to be or to look Latinx, but students feel pressured by narrow depictions.
A Home Away from Home: Students develop individual and group identities through cultural connections. They want to communicate their beliefs, values, and customs with others like them.
Is Anybody Here for Me?: Many participants said that they need some type of support during university. (This need is common among students at UofT, as the Innovation Hub has found in other projects.) They found help to varying degrees. Those who felt under-supported encountered both academic and personal obstacles during their studies.
Money Matters: Latinx students talked about their families’ expectations that they be diligent paid workers. It is not uncommon that families suffer a shift in economic status to immigrate. Latinx students are encouraged to raise personal finances and ready themselves for high-paying careers, which can place them in a double bind. Future job prospects and higher pay often hinge on students’ academic success, but time dedicated to their studies can be threatened by part-time work.