When Murtaza Rajabali first heard about a new Latino Center coming to Minnesota State University’s Centennial Student Union, he was, to put it mildly, surprised.

As president of the university’s Student Senate, he usually hears about these things a little sooner.

“There’s a process of student consultation, and usually if they want to do something in the students’ union, they have to go through that process,” Rajabali said. “What we were told is that the CSU was going to have a Latino Center.”

Students became angry. Administrators made efforts to alleviate concerns. And thus, a campus controversy was born.

Since then, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Scott Olson went before the Centennial Student Union Board and presented the university’s vision about a Latino Center and how it came about. Now the Union Board, which oversees use of the CSU, will talk about whether it will support the idea.

And on Monday, a forum was held where MSU President Richard Davenport, Olson, Vice President for Finance and Administration Rick Straka and Vice President for Institutional Diversity Michael Fagin answered questions along with Rajabali and other student leaders.

At that forum, Davenport confirmed the creation of a Latino Center isn’t a question of “if,” but “when and where.”

The issue is a complex one and puts a focus on an ethnic group that has had a curious presence on MSU’s campus.

In Region Nine (made up of Blue Earth, Brown, Faribault, Le Sueur, Martin, Nicollet, Sibley, Waseca and Watonwan counties) as of 2008, Hispanics made up more than half of all ethnic minorities.

But at MSU, Hispanics represent just 1.4 percent of the MSU student population, a rate far behind other ethnic minorities that are much less represented in southern Minnesota. Black students currently represent 4.2 percent of students at MSU, but just 1.4 percent of the region. Asians, which make up 2.5 percent of the student body, make up 1.3 percent of the region.

Estimates for the next two decades show a dramatic increase in the number of Hispanics in Minnesota and the region. Combine that with the estimated dramatic decrease in the number of high school graduates coming in the next 10 years, and it doesn’t take a Ph.D. to tell you Hispanics are a key growth area for MSU.

And MSU wants to grow. A few years ago, the university announced a goal of growing its enrollment to about 20,000. Today it’s at 14,877.

Mexican Consulate

A deal struck with the Mexican government recently provided the impetus for MSU to get going on plans it says have been brewing for years.

Director of Chicano/Latino Affairs Guadalupe Quintero said she’s long been lobbying for a Latino Center, and she’s had statewide support.