In the fall of 1972, twenty Chicana, Puerto Rican, Native American, and Cuban women formed an organization called “Mezcla”; the word for “mixture” in Spanish. Their main activity on campus that semester was a recruitment drive in conjunction with the Admissions office. The first ever Mezcla Constitution was approved by College Government on April 16, 1973, and Mezcla’s first president was Miriam Ojeda class of 1974. Some of Mezcla’s earliest members were Charmaine Bradley '76, Candy Fleming '73, June Jaramillo '74, Nelly Rivera '75, and Delia Saldańa '76. Mezcla’s purpose that school year was to instill a sense of solidarity amongst its members, to help increase the college's awareness of each ethnic group's culture, to promote individual involvement in community service, and to fulfill members’ sense of obligation towards their communities.

Mezcla hoped to establish an effective and consistent recruitment program to increase their numbers at Wellesley College. They envisioned organizing an orientation for prospective Mezcla members. They hoped to arrange cultural activities to enrich the college community's awareness of their organization and of their diverse cultures. The first cultural event sponsored by Mezcla for the entire college community was a performance of "La Carpa de los Rasquachis," or "The Tent of the Underdogs," by Teatro Campesino, a nationally renowned theatre group that was formed by strikers in California's migrant farm workers' movement. The event took place in Alumnae Hall on April 27, 1973.

Although Mezcla achieved much success in its first year as an official organization at Wellesley, its members experienced many struggles along the way. They could not find an advisor, which was largely due to the fact that there were few, if any, Latino faculty members at the time. They also had trouble acquiring funding. Until 1975, the group had no place to hold meetings or gather for events. In November of 1975, Mezcla and Hillel, the Jewish students group at Wellesley, were granted use of the house currently known as Gray House. During the time the groups shared the house, it was known by two different names, "La Casa" and "Beit Shalom."

Until 1996 when the Native American students split to form A.I.S.O (American Indian Student’s Organization), currently known as N.A.S.O. (Native American Student’s Organization), Mezcla was still an organization for both Latina and Native American women. Today, Mezcla is solely a Latina-focused organization. Mezcla's members mostly consist of Latina women, however, it is an open organization that welcomes members of all backgrounds. We no longer have "La Casa;" instead we meet in the Multi-Cultural Space on the fourth floor of Billings.

Mared Alicea-Westort has been the full time advisor to Latina students since the 2002-2003 school year, and Latinas currently make up approximately 4% of the College's population. For a time, we did have a pre-orientation for Latina students, however as of Fall 2003 Latina's on campus have had a multicultural retreat the first weekend after classes start.

Although it's been over thirty years since the first Constitution was drafted, Mezcla's ideals remain the same. Mezcla is an organization devoted to the academic, political, and social interests of the American students of Latino descent at Wellesley College. We are committed to solidarity, to promoting cultural awareness, to recruiting more Latinas to Wellesley, and perhaps most importantly, to giving back to the communities from whence we came.

By Jennifer Casiano, Wellesley Class of 2004