March 21, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Susan McDonald
Public Affairs
(805) 756-7109
Cal Poly Celebrates Cesar Chavez March 31, April 5
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Cal Poly students are inviting the public to celebrate the life of Cesar Chavez during a memorial march, rally and film showing on campus Tuesday, April 5.
The march will begin at 11 a.m. on Dexter Lawn. The morning memorial march will end at the University Union Plaza, with a few moments of open microphone comments.
Metered parking is available on California Street in front of the Orfalea College of Business Building and in front of the Kennedy Library. Visitors with day parking passes can also park in the Performing Arts Center parking lot. Day parking passes are available for purchase at the information kiosk at the Grand Avenue entrance to Cal Poly.
Chavez events will continue at 6 p.m. that evening in the Veranda Café across from the ASI Rec Center, where a panel of speakers will discuss the influence Chavez had on their lives. Video clips of Chavez’s life and work will be shown. Refreshments will be served.
The free events are sponsored by the university’s Hispanic Business Student Association. For more information, contact Daisy Cisneros at cisneros@calpoly.edu.
The public is also invited to visit the Robert E. Kennedy library to view a biographical and historical display on Chavez. For questions or contributions to the display, contact Joan Kennedy at jkennedy@calpoly.edu.
Cal Poly will be closed March 31 in observance of the state’s Cesar Chavez Day holiday.
Chavez was working in the apricot orchards outside San Jose in 1952 when he dreamed of improving working conditions for farm workers. Ten years later, he founded a union to improve the life of California farm workers. The union was chartered in 1966 by the AFL-CIO as the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, with Chavez as its president. Chavez was still doing that work when he died in 1993.
“In carrying out his mission, Cesar Chavez created and lived according to a unique blend of values, philosophy and styles, including dedication to non-violence, volunteerism, public action, and an attitude of ‘Si Se Puede’ (“Yes You Can”),” said Cisneros, a Cal Poly business student.
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