Hostos Community College (CUNY)

Hostos Community College (CUNY). A public community college in the South Bronx, New York City. It is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system and was created by an act of the Board of Higher Education in 1968 in response to demands from the Hispanic/Puerto Rican community, which was urging for the establishment of a college to serve the people of the South Bronx. In 1970, the college admitted its first class of 623 students at the site of a former tire factory. Several years later, the college moved to a larger site nearby at 149th Street and Grand Concourse. The college also operates a location at the prow building of the Bronx Terminal Market^.

Hostos is the first institution of higher education on the mainland to be named after a Puerto Rican, Eugenio María de Hostos, an educator, writer, and patriot. A large proportion (approximately 60%) of the student population is Hispanic, thus many of the courses at Hostos are offered in Spanish, and the college also provides extensive English and ESL instruction to students.

The Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture is a performing arts center contained within the college campus. It consists of a museum-grade art gallery, a 367-seat Repertory Theater, and a 900-seat Main Theater, presenting artists of national and international renown. It has been showcasing theater, dance and music artists for 33 years, with the mission “to be a cultural force in the Bronx and throughout the New York metropolitan area.”