CHULA VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) — Southwestern College in Chula Vista is taking immediate action following allegations of sexual abuse and rape against labor rights leader Cesar Chavez.
Early Thursday morning, campus facilities staff were ordered to remove Chavez's name from several locations on campus. Letter by letter, the college removed his name from the Student Services Center, a building considered the hub on campus. Other signage that had his name was covered with tape or scraped off.
"This building was the Cesar E. Chavez Student Services Center," Sofia Robitaille, executive director of advancement and community engagement at Southwestern College, said.
The move comes just days after the allegations against Chavez surfaced. The labor rights leader died in 1993.
"We heard the news, we were just so deeply disappointed, saddened," Robitaille said.
Some students noticed the changes on Thursday morning and applauded the decision.
"I think it's a pretty strong response, which I honestly agree with," said Ocean Hazho, a student at Southwestern.
The school's Chicano Latino Coalition also canceled its Cesar Chavez scholarship breakfast, which was originally scheduled for Thursday morning. Five student scholarship recipients will be celebrated on a future date.
The school says it will rename the Student Services Center, a process that will eventually be open to public input.
"No decision has been made; we're still in the process. The process is clear, transparent, and public," Robitaille said.
Students say it is sad to lose a figure in the Chicano movement, but are proud of the school. They are taking these developments as an opportunity to honor and celebrate everyone who played a role in the United Farmworkers movement.
"It's time that we recognize more of the people that came into this movement and actually did a change," said Melany Garcia, a student at Southwestern.
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