Food, music and dancing were galore in The Varsity at The Hughes-Trigg Center March 4. SMU’s on-campus organization, College Hispanic American Students, better known as CHAS, hosted Latin Night to celebrate the Latin culture in style.

Member of CHAS and sophomore Bryan Monroy has enjoyed organizing this bi-annual event for two years now.

“It’s one of our main events,” Monroy said. “This is one event that we really think benefits the SMU community, because, as you can see we have so many people from different backgrounds.”

The event’s main purpose is to bring awareness of the Latin culture through food, music and conversations. President of CHAS, Rumaldo Robles, said that first and foremost he wanted people to enjoy themselves.

“We want people to have fun, that’s kind of why we did it. And to show people different aspects of the Latin culture, like the dancing and food,” Robles said.

It wasn’t long before people began dancing to cumbia, bachata and salsa. CHAS partnered with SMU Ballroom to kick-off the dancing and give tips on salsa dancing.

The event also had a deeper purpose, according to Robles.

“One of the laws that is impacting the Hispanic culture right now is SB4, so we actually have postcards that people can fill out so they can lobby their representative,” Robles said.

The SB4 bill passed through the Texas Senate in February. The bill will cut funding to cities, counties and universities that do not follow immigration laws.

Robles looks forward to this event every semester, as he believes it helps to bring the SMU community together.

“We want to create a good sense of community within SMU and we also want to support the Hispanic community in general,” Robles said.