Editor’s note (9-27-19): Since this article was published, the University of Nevada, Reno has provided new language abour the Latinx dorm wing. According to UNR: “This living learning community is open to all qualified students with an interest in Latinx culture and history and/or identify as Latinx.”

As an effort to increase and sustain diversity, the University of Nevada, Reno has added two new dorm wings this school year, specifically for Latinx and LGBTQ+ students. Latinx is a gender neutral term for describing Latinos. KUNR’s Andrew Mendez has this report.

On move-in day, resident assistants guide students and their families to check-in as they carry boxes full of clothes and push dollies.

The Nevada Living Learning Community at UNR offers nine unique wings that support academic and social experiences for 320 students.

Any qualified students who have an interest in Latinx culture and history or who identify as Latinx are eligible to live in the new Latinx dorm wing.

Students who live in the LGBTQ+ wing must be a part of or an ally to that community. Throughout the school year, they will explore topics around LGBTQ+ identities and history.

Jennifer Hill is the director of the Gender, Race and Identity Department at UNR. She was part of a collaborative effort in the creation of these new living spaces.

“They serve as places where people can make friends, explore ideas casually and formally in the classes affiliated with them,” Hill said.

But Hill says they also provide the college experience that everyone hopes for.

“That is: to feel supported,” she said, “to feel safe, to come home to a place they feel they fit in. ”

Latinx students now make up nearly 20 percent of the total student population at UNR.

Andrew is a second-year student at the Reynolds School of Journalism and contributed this story as part of our collaboration with KUNR.