SALSA is more than a dip to go with tortilla chips.

That’s the message the Spanish and Latino Student Association wanted to get out at its first meeting last night in the Student Center.

“I definitely want to get out that SALSA is not just for Latinos,” SALSA President Rodrigo Uribe said. “Maybe with doing more events open to the whole university we can combat that idea.”

Last year, SALSA had a successful dance in the Rathskeller, and the group looks forward to putting together programming for the entire student body this semester, Uribe said.

“Anyone interested in Hispanic culture is welcome, and we’d like to emphasize that,” he said.

At the moment, the group is hoping to get comedian Gabriel Iglesias, a contestant from NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” to come to campus for Hispanic Awareness Month, which is in October. Because SALSA has to ask permission from the Undergraduate Student Senate for funding, the event could be pushed back to November.

As for other programming, SALSA’s executive board is looking to its membership for ideas.

“We’re very open-minded,” SALSA treasurer Yessica Flores said. “It’s not just us – we want everybody to be involved.”

Flores said she doesn’t think the board should put together events without SALSA members’ input.

“We don’t just want to pick something and nobody show up,” she said. “We want to do something everybody wants.”

The group is working to get SALSA members to socialize by putting together study tables at the library and getting groups together to go to Kent State basketball games.

SALSA is also trying to bolster its bank account, which, at the moment, has about $440. Uribe said the group is planning to sell Malley’s chocolates around Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and other occasions. SALSA is planning a 50/50 raffle. Uribe said the group is open to any fundraising ideas.

Happy Malla, freshman integrated life sciences major, said this was her first SALSA meeting. Malla said she wants to keep up with the Spanish she learned in high school.

“I definitely think people should be involved just to open their eyes and be exposed to what’s available to them,” Malla said.

Contact ethnic affairs reporter Tim Magaw at [email protected].