Title: Hunger Strike for Chicano Studies Department Papers,

Date (inclusive): 1993

Collection number: 1

Creator: Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA) 1993

Extent: 1.5 linear ft.

Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Chicano Studies Research Center, UCLA

Abstract: This collection consists of flyers, memos, notes, form letters, faxes and photographs that document the events that occurred during the summer of 1993 when six students and one professor began a hunger strike to protest the decision of Chancellor Charles R. Young to close the Chicano Studies Program at the University of California, Los Angeles.



**Please note that accents have been eliminated in order to accommodate and facilitate the use of all types of web browsers.



Researchers who would like to indicate errors of fact or omissions in this finding aid can contact the research center at www.chicano.ucla.edu

Physical location: This collection is currently stored off site at UCLA's Southern Regional Library Facility. (SRLF)

Language of Material: Collection materials in English, Spanish

Access is available by appointment for UCLA student and faculty researchers as well as independent researchers. To view the collection or any part of it, please contact the archivist at archivist@chicano.ucla.edu

For students and faculty researchers of UCLA, all others by permission only. Copyright has not been assigned to the Chicano Studies Research Center. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Archivist and/or the Librarian at the Chicano Studies Research Center Library. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

[Identification of item], Hunger Strike for Chicano Studies Department Papers, 1, Chicano Studies Research Center, UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles.

Donated to the Chicano Studies Research Center by Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA) in 2002

In the spring of 1993, after several attempts from faculty and students at the University of California, Los Angeles to change the standing of the Chicano Studies Program from an interdisciplinary program to a department, Chancellor Charles E. Young announced that the Program would not receive departmental status. The date was April 28th, 1993, the eve of Cesar Chavez's funeral.



This decision ignited the passion and activism of many students and set in motion a sit-in demonstration by the Conscious Students of Color over the welfare of the Chicano Studies Library, budget cuts, and the Chicana/o Studies Program and other Ethnic Programs at UCLA. Around 200 hundreds students walked across the Westwood campus to the Faculty Center on campus to protest the Chancellor's decision. The protest turned violent after Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and University of California Police Department (UCPD) officers appeared in riot gear at the Faculty Center. As a result 99 students were arrested and UCLA pressed charges against the students for vandalizing the premises.



These actions set off rallies and demonstrations on the part of a variety of student groups such as MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan), Latin American Student Alliance (LASA), Students for Revolutionary Action, community groups, (i.e. United Community Labor Alliance,) and brought together thousands of people to demand changes at UCLA.



The most dramatic demonstration and the focus of this archival collection was the 1993 Hunger Strike. Eight students and one UCLA professor decided to protest what they considered an injustice on the part of UCLA Administration, represented by Chancellor Charles R. Young, through a fast to emphasize their demands. The hunger strikers were: Juan Arturo Diaz Lopez, Marcos Aguilar, Balvina Collazo, Maria M. Lara, Arturo Paztel Mireles Resendi, Cindi Montanez, Joaquin Manual Ochoa and Professor Jorge R. Mancillas.



The hunger strike attracted the support and attention of many recognized members of the community including State Senators Tom Hayden, Art Torres, State Representatives Lucille Roybal-Allard and Xavier Becerra, City Assembly woman Hilda L. Solis; Mothers of East L.A. and many others. This event galvanized the community at large and resulted in one of the largest student and community mobilizations in the history of UCLA.



At the end of the hunger strike a compromise was achieved between the hunger strikers and the UCLA administration. As a result, the Cesar Chavez Center for Interdisciplinary Instruction in Chicana & Chicano Studies was created.



Sources: Cesar Chavez Center website at http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/YPC/conference/90sBackground.htm



Rhoads, Robert A. Immigrants in Our Own Land: The Chicano Studies Movement at UCLA. In Freedom's Web: Student Activism in an Age of Cultural Diversity pp. 61-94. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1998.

This collection of flyers, memos, notes, form letters, faxes and photographs and documents of the events that occurred during the summer of 1993, where six students and one professor went on a hunger strike to protest the decision of Chancellor Charles R. Young to close the Chicano Studies Program at the University of California, Los Angeles.



**Please note that accents have been eliminated inorder to accomodate and facilitate the use of all types of web browsers.



Researchers who would like to indicate errors of fact or omissions in this finding aid can contact the archivist at archivist@chicano.ucla.edu

The collection is organized into the following series:

• Series 1. Correspondence / Form letters
• Series 2. Memos
• Series 3. Notes
• Series 4. Flyers
• Series 5. Faxes
• Series 5. Photographs
• Series 6. Petitions
• Series 7. Photographs
• Series 8. News releases
• Series 9. Miscellaneous papers
• Series 10. Clippings

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.