Puerto Rican Resilience Is a Lesson for the Mainland

Hurricanes, earthquakes, bankruptcy, and a pandemic. When it comes to catastrophic events, Puerto Rico has experienced its lion’s share in the last decade. With these events have come economic vulnerability and population decreases. Yet despite the chaos, nothing has stopped Puerto Rican postsecondary institutions from working to achieve their educational missions.

“The ability to be flexible, adjust, adapt and still meet your mission, to me that’s resilience,” said Dr. Deborah Santiago, co-founder and CEO of Excelencia in Education, an organization promoting Latinx success in higher education and at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs).

HSIs are a federal designation achieved when an institution’s student population is at least 25% Latinx. Being an HSI gives institutions access to grants and funding that must be used to better support and serve Latinx students.

Puerto Rican institutions have been what Santiago calls “canaries in the coal mine” for the crises now facing many U.S. institutions on the mainland, crises like dramatic drops in enrollment, the need to build infrastructure that supports distance learning, and balancing a budget as revenue decreases.

“We’re missing out on an opportunity to invest in, but also listen to and learn from, those who’ve been dealing with the challenges of higher ed, in many ways at the forefront of what others are facing,” said Santiago. “These are all U.S. citizens and U.S. institutions, and because of geography, we’ve chosen to selectively put them in another bucket, not include them in our thinking.”

Excelencia's report, Institutional Resilience in Puerto Rico: A First Look at Efforts by Puerto Rican HSIs, recognizes how Puerto Rican institutions have continued to keep their students enrolled and on track for completion. The report details just some of the efforts at five institutions, showing how leadership has found a way to dig in and continue to serve their students.

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