El Centro de la Raza celebrated Cinco de Mayo with food, music and dancing outside the SUB on Monday.
The event was sponsored by the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, the Mexican Student Association and El Centro de la Raza's Graduate Students Association.
Sixty volunteers helped with the day-long celebration.
Thalia Cataño, co-chairwoman of MEChA, said she wanted the event to clarify the purpose of Cinco de Mayo.
"The holiday has been taken over by the alcohol industries, and now there's a lot of anti-immigration," she said. "But the industries don't mind exploiting it for their financial benefit."
The holiday is sometimes mistaken for Mexico's Independence Day, which is Sept. 16.
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Cinco de Mayo commemorates Mexico's victory over French forces in the Battle of Puebla in 1862.
Mabel Gonzalez, president of the Mexican Student Association, said the event also served as a fundraiser for scholarships.
"The scholarships will be given to UNM immigrant students because they need the most help for school and because they can't apply for financial aid like other students can," she said.
Student Charlene Johnson attended the event to support the scholarship fund.
"I went because the members of MEChA are in my class, and I wanted to support them," she said. "I also went to support it because I do feel like the United States has created Cinco de Mayo as a way to capitalize Mexican culture. So, I wanted to do something more useful than partying and drinking."
About 200 people attended the Cinco de Mayo festivities.
Student Amanda Pacheco said she was happy to see such a good turnout.
"It was the perfect day, and the band was really good," she said.
Gonzalez said the Cinco de Mayo festivities were open to everyone, especially families.
"We wanted to promote the event as a family event and not focus the holiday on being drunk for the day," she said.
