For most college students, literature courses began in high school and consisted almost entirely of the classics of America and Western Europe. English professor Norma E. Cantu says the emergence of Hispanic literature and its growing popularity on college campuses around the country--and the world--is proof that American literature is expanding and making room for the diverse cultures that make up this country. Although Hispanic literature isn't new, it has generally been left out of world literature courses, says Cantu. "Since the 1930s, there were writers being published, not by New York presses but by smaller presses," she says. Dr. Louis Mendoza, chair of the Chicano studies department at the University of Minnesota, says high schools and universities have a role to play in exposing students to diverse types of literature. But as new programs pop up on more campuses, the universities are wrestling with the question of where to place them. So far, the answer is as diverse as Hispanic populations in America, a fact that Dr. Cantu attributes to the cultural mix present in the Hispanic community.