UC San Diego Honors César E. Chávez
Since 2001, a committee of UC San Diego staff, faculty, students, and alumni have been invited each year to take part in planning the annual month-long celebration honoring César E. Chávez.
As a committee, we are proud of the collective work we do to celebrate the life and legacy of César E. Chávez. Our month-long celebration honors his achievements, raises awareness about the struggle for equal rights and highlights our campus’s commitment to equity, service and community engagement.
This year in which we look for lessons and fortitude from our past we reflect on the significant year this will be for our, and many other, vulnerable communities.
Additionally, as we move to April in which we deal with another uncertainty which attacks all our communities, COVID-19, I think it is as timely as ever that we learn and remember Chavez and the UFW's 10 core values; services to others, sacrifice, helping the most needy and determination, to name a few. ¡Si Se Puede!
Haydée Cervantes Salazar
César E. Chávez Planning Committee Chair
Darlene Mendez Schlueter
César E. Chávez Planning Committee Vice-Chair
50 Years of Chicano Movement: Honoring the Legacy & Struggle
UC San Diego 20 Year Anniversary Campus Celebration
2020 marked many national and local anniversaries in the Chicanx-Latinx community. To honor that history the month-long celebration theme created by the César E. Chávez Committee, “50 Years of Chicano Movement: Honoring the Legacy & Struggle.” touches on the significant milestones of the past year. 2020 was the 50th Anniversary of the Chicano Park, in which a local San Diego community came together to reclaim the land from being developed for a Highway Patrol station, and created what is now a National Historic Landmark and some of the largest outdoor murals.
Last year also commemorated the anniversary of the 1970 East Los Angeles, Chicano Moratorium, which was organized to draw attention to the disproportionate casualties of Chicanos in the Vietnam War. The large anti-war demonstration escalated into violent clashes with law enforcement and charges of police brutality, resulting in the death of local journalist Rubén Salazar.
2021 also signals the 20th Anniversary of the UC San Diego campus coming together to celebrate Cesar E. Chavez's legacy and the Chicanx-Latinx community in the month-long celebrations.
Mission Statement
The Cesar E. Chavez committee coordinates and promotes a month-long series of events that honor the legacy of Chavez by educating, inspiring, and empowering our Chicanx/Latinx and Raza community.
The committee serves this community and ensures the focus of our events and initiatives will be University workers, staff, faculty, students both on campus and in the broader San Diego region.
As a result of our month-long activities, our collective impact is a year-round long-lasting effect of creating and fostering a community on campus.
2021 Committee Members
Adrian Estudillo | Alexander Guerrero Pallesco | Annie Ross | Armando Abundis | Bel Geronimo | Belinda Zamacona | Darlene Mendez Schluter | Haydée Cervantes Salazar | Irma Martinez Velasco | Maddy Agamata | Margarita Lopez | Mario Garibay | Norberto P. Salazar | Starr Culver | Susana Barajas