US Latinx Activism and Protests: From the Farm to the (Legislative) Table

UCLA Hunger Strike

In 1973, UCLA established an undergraduate inter-departmental program, which was the home of the Chicano/a Studies department for about 20 years. In the 1980s and 90s, the state of California saw budget cuts due to a lack of government funding. Originally included in this budget cut at UCLA was the inter-departmental program. Students began to protest the elimination of this program, as they felt Chicano/a Studies was too important of a program to lose. They felt that it deserved to be its own department as well. Due to these budget cuts that took place all throughout the 1980s, Chancellor Charles E. Young decided that he was unable to grant departmental status to the Chicano/a Studies program. 

On April 28th, 1993, the night before the funeral of Cesar Chavez, the Conscious Students of Color group at UCLA began a sit-in demonstration. Approximately 200 students took place in the protest on UCLA's campus, and 99 of them were arrested by UCPD and LAPD, who approached the campus in riot gear. Some of the students, and even a professor, decided to expand upon the sit-in protest and take part in a hunger strike where they abstained from eating any food. This hunger strike was inspired by the protest methods of Cesar Chavez himself. In 1968, Chavez completed his first hunger strike for agricultural workers where he did not consume any food and drank only water for 25 days. 

As the strike continued on, parents began to express concerns for the health and safety of their children. While many parents were supportive of their children's decisions to strike, they were worried what would happen if the strike continued. Doctors began weighing in and warning the participants of the strike that they could face serious health problems if they went on much longer. Some students even became wheelchair-bound after going a whole week without eating any food. Despite Chancellor Young's concern for the protestors, his decision on the Chicano/a Studies becoming an independent department did not change. He did, however, state that students involved in a rally that took place for the Chicano/a Studies department would not face any serious consequences. 

The protests and strikes proved to be successful, as the Chicano Studies program was not only kept open, but it became its own department in 2005. The department was titled the Cesar E. Chavez Department of Chicano/a Studies after the Chavez-inspired protesting that led to the department's formation. The department has since grown to become the home of over 450 undergraduate majors and minors, 30 PhD students, and 14 faculty members. The research done within the department from both students and faculty continues to expand as the years go on. Not only did the strike and protests result in an expansion of the Chicano/a Studies program, but it also succeeded in bringing all different kinds of students and faculty together to support the Chicanx/Latinx community. 

 

This page has paths:

This page references: