Date auction unites Latinos

"Give me five dollars" was the name of the game last night in the Indiana Memorial Union Gallery. Latinos Unidos held a date auction to raise money for an annual athletic event and to raise cultural awareness towards the Latino community at IU.\n"Love Don't Cost a Thang" was the date auction sponsored this year by Lambda Upsilon Lamdba, the Latino minority-based fraternity, as well as Latinos Unidos. \nJunior Aldo Huitzil, a member of Lambda, said five men and five women were each being auctioned. The highest bidder would then win a free Valentine's date with the auctionee courtesy of gift certificates donated by area businesses.\nFreshman Ricardo Hernandez, one of the men being auctioned, said he wasn't too worried about the public humiliation he thought he might face.\n"I don't want to be embarrassed, but I'm not worried about it because its going to a good cause," Hernandez said. "(We are) trying to build ourselves into a stronger community and have a better voice at IU."\nHuitzil said the proceeds from the auction will go to help pay for Latinos Unidos' annual Sportsfest held April 2 in both the Ora L. Wildermuth Intramural Center and Dunn Meadow. Huitzil said Sportsfest involves several other Latinos Unidos groups coming to participate in events such basketball, volleyball and tug-of-war. Participating teams must have at least 20 players; and Huitzil said teams from other colleges and universities, including both Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis and Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne, have already signed up for the event.\nJunior Jeremiah Ashe, a member of both Latinos Unidos at IU and Lambda, is helping to organize this year's Sportsfest. He said the athletic conference serves a similar function to the date auction by bringing members of the Latino community together to help foster a sense community. He said he's expecting at least 100 players from at least five different schools to participate this spring.\nBoth Sportsfest and last night's date auction have a similar function according to Huitzil, who called the concept behind them a "collaboration of minds."\n"We are trying to unify as a group and be aware of those differences," Huitzil said, "but that we can still collaborate despite those differences and then move forward."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Brandon S Morley at bmorley@indiana.edu.