In 1993, students and faculty at UCLA undertook civil disobedience and a nonviolent hunger strike to underscore their demands for greater support of Chicana/o Studies and the establishment of an official department of Chicana and Chicano Studies.
Soon after, what is now known as the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies was established and named in honor of Chávez — in memory of his leadership for social change, fair treatment of farm workers, his support of nonviolence and his use of the hunger strike as a tool to challenge the moral conscience of the nation and the world.
Today we celebrate César Chávez Day in honor of Chávez's legacy of activism and social justice in the civil rights and labor movements. This issue is dedicated to Bruins whose work continues to push social justice movements forward.
A Letter of Solidarity From Diverse Alumni Communities of UCLA Addressing Hate and Violence Against the Asian American Pacific Islander Community
UCLA's nine active identity-based alumni organizations write a letter in response to the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes across the country.
Read the full letter of solidarity here.
Learn
Rev. James Lawson Jr. and UCLA Labor Center Director Kent Wong will teach a
free 10-week course on nonviolence and social movements beginning today and live streaming on the UCLA Labor Center Facebook page Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to noon.
Read
"
Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong," a children's book co-written by the late Dr. Dawn Bohulano Mabalon '94, M.A. '97, and Gayle Romasanta, tells the story of United Farm Workers union co-founder Larry Itliong.
Watch an interview with Gayle Romasanta as she shares some of the history of the Filipino American civil rights leader.
Listen
Veena Hampapur, M.A. '10, Ph.D. '16 and Saba Waheed tackle the prominent narrative of "bad immigrants" and its ties to a long history of criminalizing immigrants and refugees in the United States on the women-led radio show and podcast Re:Work.