SUBJECT:  Cesar Chavez Celebration

On Friday, August 18, 2000, Governor Gray Davis announced the signing of a bill to establish March 31 as the Cesar Chavez California State Holiday. This long-awaited state holiday recognizes the civil rights crusades of a remarkable citizen who strove for economic justice for the state's most vulnerable employees.

While this occasion is not recognized as a UC holiday, I have asked Professor Cecil Lytle, Thurgood Marshall College Provost, and David Valladolid, President of the San Diego Chicano Federation, to lead a planning committee to coordinate our campus events and activities during the month of April 2001 in recognition of the contributions of Cesar Chavez to our society. Provost Lytle and Mr. Valladolid also are responsible for coordinating our programs and events with Cesar Chavez State Holiday recognition activities taking place in the San Diego community as well.

The members of the planning committee are:
Cecil Lytle, Co-Chair (Provost, Thurgood Marshall College);
David Valladolid, Co-Chair (President, Chicano Federation Board of Directors, President & CEO, Parent Institute for Quality Education);
Edwina Welch, Director, UCSD Cross Cultural Center;
Rafael Hernandez, Director, UCSD EAOP & UCSD Diversity Council;
Paula Doss, Director, Equal Opportunity/Staff Affirmative Action, UCSD Human Resources;
Nick Aguilar, Director, UCSD Student Policy & Judicial Affairs;
Josie Foulks, UCSD Childhood Development Center;
Olga Vasquez, Associate Director, CREATE, Associate Professor, Department. of Communication;
Jorge Mariscal, Associate Professor, Department of Literature;
Alma Lugo and Erika Olivera, UCSD M.E.Ch.A. Representatives.

The events they have planned are academic and celebratory in nature.
They include:

*Cesar Chavez Film Festival, April 2, 9, 16, and 23, Price Center Theatre, UCSD.

*Display on the life of Chavez, Admit Day, April 7, Thurgood Marshall College Cultural Celebration, and month long display featuring works about Chavez, UCSD Bookstore.

*High School Essay Contest for San Diego middle and senior high school students concluding with award ceremonies March 30 at the San Diego Convention Center and April 7 at Thurgood Marshall College.

*Symposium, The State of Migrant Labor in the Western United States: Then and Now, April 17, Copley International Conference Center, UCSD.

*Symposium, si se puede: The Legacy of Cesar Chavez, April 28, Institute of the Americas, UCSD.

Supervisors may grant staff employees two hours of release time in addition to the regular half hour for lunch to attend one or more of the planned celebratory Cesar Chavez events, if the absence does not infringe upon the performance of required job duties.

Please join me in thanking the UCSD Cesar Chavez Planning Committee for developing our public recognition of Cesar Chavez and the Chicano civil rights movement. I look forward to seeing you at many of these programs on campus and in the community.

                                                Robert C. Dynes
                                                Chancellor