Biden hosts formal ceremony to celebrate federal support for Hispanic-serving institutions

President Joe Biden hosted a formal ceremony Wednesday to publicly celebrate his executive order establishing an initiative to increase funding for Hispanic-serving institutions and create a board of advisors on HSIs.

Hispanic-serving institutions, or HSIs, which are not-for-profit schools with a full-time equivalent undergraduate student enrollment that is at least a quarter Hispanic, are vital to the goals of equality in educational and economic opportunities, according to the White House.

With Hispanic people accounting for almost three-quarters of the nation’s population gain, according to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates from 2022 to 2023, higher education leaders are urging the president to spread the word about the new initiative, given its potential to help Hispanic students catch up to peers from some other backgrounds.

“Hispanic-serving institutions are places that turn dreams into reality for students across the country,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement on X. “When we support inclusive spaces, we are supporting everyone!”

The ceremony came after the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, a nonprofit advocacy group, released a petition for Biden to host a public event to promote the HSI initiative.

Higher education advocates in Latino communities say that they are optimistic about the federal effort to support hundreds of local colleges and universities.

In a statement, HACU CEO Antonio R. Flores, who was at the ceremony, thanked Biden for taking action to advance the success of HSIs. Flores said the executive order shows a federal understanding of how crucial HSIs are to the future of the nation.

“The numerous forms of support for HSIs established by this order is the start of a new era for our schools, expanding and improving the landscape they operate within,” Flores said. “This will ensure HSIs have a seat at the table so that the students they serve have access to an education that is equitable and accessible, fulfilling the promise of the American dream that increasingly depends on a college degree.”

Latino students are hopeful that the executive order will help HSIs improve their infrastructure and ability to provide more resources in a variety of languages to its students.

The more than 500 HSIs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico serve more than 4.7 million students every year, according to federal data. Many students are low-income, and nearly a third are eligible for Pell grants, which are federal scholarships for students in need.

Unlike historically Black or Native American tribal colleges and universities, which are given their designations based on their missions, any college can receive the HSI label and related federal money if its Latino enrollment reaches at least 25% of the student body.

Hispanic people, who can be of any race, are the nation’s second-largest demographic. Their population grew last year by about 1.2 million, to 65.2 million, meaning Hispanic people make up almost a fifth of the total population, according to census estimates.

Biden’s order is intended to strengthen HSIs’ ability to provide high-quality education, benefit from existing federal programs, and increase their students’ educational and economic mobility.

HSIs “play a critical role in ensuring Latinos have access to the middle class and can fulfill their aspirations,” White House domestic policy advisor Neera Tanden said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. “The president’s executive order will strengthen these critical institutions and build their capacity to provide economic mobility for all their students.”

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President Joe Biden meets with President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A key U.N. General Assembly committee adopted a resolution late Friday paving the way for negotiations on a first-ever treaty on preventing and punishing crimes against humanity after Russia dropped amendments that would have derailed the effort.

The resolution was approved by consensus by the assembly’s legal committee, which includes all 193-member U.N. nations, after tense last-minute negotiations between its supporters and Russia that dragged through the day.

There was loud applause when the chairman of the committee gaveled the resolution’s approval. It is virtually certain to be adopted when the General Assembly puts it to a final vote on Dec. 4.

“Today’s agreement to start up negotiations on a much-needed international treaty is an historic achievement that was a long time coming,” Richard Dicker, Human Rights Watch’s senior legal adviser for advocacy, told The Associated Press.

“It sends a crucial message that impunity for the kinds of crimes inflicted on civilians in Ethiopia, Sudan, Ukraine, southern Israel, Gaza and Myanmar will not go unheeded,” he said.

The resolution calls for a time-bound process with preparatory sessions in 2026 and 2027, and three-week negotiating sessions in 2028 and 2029 to finalize a treaty on crimes against humanity.

Dicker said Russia’s proposed amendments left in question whether treaty negotiations would have been completed.

Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador Maria Zabolotskaya said Russia withdrew the amendments “in a spirit of compromise." But she said Russia “dissociates itself from consensus.”

“This, of course, does not mean that we are not ready to work on this crucial convention,” Zabolotskaya told the committee.

The International Criminal Court was established to punish major perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide and it has 124 countries that are parties to it. The ICC says crimes against humanity are committed as part of a large-scale attack on civilians and it lists 15 forms including murder, rape, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, sexual slavery, torture and deportation.

But the ICC does not have jurisdiction over nearly 70 other countries.

There are global treaties that cover war crimes, genocide and torture — but there has been no specific treaty addressing crimes against humanity. And according to sponsors of the resolution, led by Mexico and Gambia and backed by 96 other countries, a new treaty will fill the gap.

Kelly Adams, legal advisor at the Global Justice Center, also called the resolution “a historic breakthrough” after many delays.

Pointing to “the proliferation of crimes against humanity around the world,” she expressed hope that a treaty will be “strong, progressive and survivor-centric.”

Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard expressed disappointment that the timeline had been extended until 2029, but said, “What’s important is that this process will deliver a viable convention.”

“It is long overdue and all the more welcome at a time when too many states are intent on wrecking international law and universal standards,” she said. “It is a clear sign that states are ready to reinforce the international justice framework and clamp down on safe havens from investigation and prosecution for perpetrators of these heinous crimes.”

After the resolution’s adoption, Gambia’s Counselor Amadou Jaiteh, who had introduced it hours earlier, called its approval “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a difference,” to hope for a world without crimes against humanity, “and a world where voices of victims are heard louder than their perpetrators.”

FILE - Exterior view of the International Criminal Court, or ICC, in The Hague, Netherlands, on April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)