From March 29 to 31, the University will host the seventh annual National Dominican Student Conference (NDSC). Started in 2007, the conference serves to unite Dominican college students and alumni from across the country to discuss social issues they face, build social and academic support networks, and celebrate their rich heritage.

Stephanie Aracena, a member of the publicity team for the conference, noted that the NDSC has unique objectives.

“Dominicans are becoming the largest group of Latinos attending college, and are doing so in large numbers, but we still count in the minority in many schools,” Aracena wrote in an email to The Argus.

The website for the NDSC also mentions that Dominican students show diminishing rates of retention and graduation from colleges.

Co-chair of the conference Dorisol Inoa ’13 echoes Aracena’s sentiments about community with regard to the purpose of the conference.

“The idea is to establish a network that may serve helpful later on in our careers,” Inoa wrote in an email to The Argus.

Vice President for Institutional Partnerships and Chief Diversity Officer Sonia Ma ñjon, who is involved with organizing the conference, believes that these objectives are effectively realized at the NDSC.

“As a Dominican American, and when I was a graduate student, I attended the National Dominican Student Conference in New York and benefited significantly by making critical connections to Dominican scholars who supported my research and personal development,” Manjon said.

The theme for this year’s conference is social justice. It is titled “Peleando Injusticia, Haciendo Noticias,” meaning “Fighting Injustice and Making Headlines.” The speakers and workshops at the conference range from Dominican comedians to Dominican news anchors to a University professor who will give a lecture on gender. Inoa explained that the conference will host workshops on gender, the criminal justice system, and individual success as a medium for social justice.

The conference also hopes to address social justice by hosting a fair featuring various outside organizations.

“I anticipate that the organization fair will be the most helpful because we will have representatives from many organizations including Teach for America and the Peace Corps,” Inoa wrote. “We will also have organizations that diversify fields, like Dominicans on Wall Street and the Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers.”

Wesleyan’s Dominican Student Association was formed in 2009 after some Wesleyan students attended the second NDSC at New York University. Students formed the group with the goal of hosting the NDSC in mind.

Aracena explained that a school must go through a rigorous application process in order to host the conference.

“At the end of last year we submitted a proposal including a theme, panelists, where we would get our funding from, spaces we would use for the keynote speaker and our workshops,” Aracena wrote. “We basically had to plan the conference as though we had already gotten the gig.”

Over the past few months, the students involved with the conference have been contacting organizations and speakers, finding hosts for students attending the conference, and ordering the necessary materials.

The students hosting the conference said they feel it is important to bring events like this to campus. Aracena explained that she feels the conference will increase the visibility of the Dominican community on campus. Inoa thinks that the creativity on the University’s campus makes it an appropriate site for the conference.

“Wesleyan students are trailblazers,” Inoa wrote. “I think we could share our ideas with the world, literally. It’s important to bring these types of events to our campus so others can get a taste of the way we think and do things around here.”

Those involved in organizing the conference have high hopes for its success.

“My hopes are that this conference will illuminate the research, projects and experiences of Dominican students, faculty and professionals who all contribute to the rich tapestry of American life and culture,” Mañjon wrote.