Eureka Schools, Cal Poly Humboldt Drop Cesar Chavez Day After Abuse Allegations

Two signs in Hammond Park, installed roughly 15 years ago, have become the most visible local symbol of a national reckoning. A New York Times investigation published last week alleged that Chavez sexually abused girls and women, including one of his most prominent organizing partners, for decades during his leadership of the farmworkers' movement. The Times spoke with women who told the newspaper they had been molested by Chavez when they were teenagers; one said Chavez first had sex with her when she was 15 while they were working together on a labor march. In Humboldt County, the fallout has been swift.

Cal Poly Humboldt scrubbed the webpage describing its annual Cesar Chavez Day of Service on March 19, removing the labor leader's name from the Serve-a-Thon organized by Youth Educational Services. "In light of the allegations, references to Cesar Chavez Day were removed from the Serve-a-Thon's website to keep the focus on the important work of Y.E.S. (Youth Educational Services), and the event will take place as planned," Cal Poly Humboldt spokesperson Aileen Yoo said in an email. The university's annual volunteering tradition, which has sent students to community gardens and service projects across the North Coast on the state holiday each March 31, will continue under a different name.

Yoo said the university stands with those who came forward. "The recent allegations about Cesar Chavez are deeply concerning," she said. "We stand with and support survivors, and we recognize the courage it takes to come forward. We also recognize the impact of the United Farm Workers movement, and all those who've fought so hard to uplift communities."

At the same time, the United Farm Workers, co-founded by Chavez and Dolores Huerta, said it will not participate in annual celebratory events this month. The CSU system also weighed in; Keegan Koberl, a Cal Poly representative, wrote in an email that "The CSU is firmly committed to fostering university environments centered on respect, integrity and the safety and dignity of all members of our campus communities," and that Cal Poly is "carefully reviewing the information and considering appropriate courses of action and currently has no plans for specific events marking the day." As of the university's statement, the Cal Poly academic calendar still listed March 31 as Cesar Chavez Day.

At Hammond Park, a small playground tucked into Eureka, the two Chavez-related signs that greet visitors, one honoring his life and values and another tracing his personal history, are likely coming down. Eureka City Manager Miles Slattery told the Lost Coast Outpost that the park was not officially named after Chavez and that the signs would likely be removed, though the city had not decided when that would happen or what would replace them. KRCR News reported that Eureka City Schools also removed references to Cesar Chavez Day, though that action was not independently confirmed by other local outlets at time of reporting.

Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers alongside Chavez, also publicly stated that Chavez sexually assaulted her on two separate occasions, at least one of which she described as rape, and that both assaults resulted in pregnancy. The revelation reverberated through Cal Poly's Latine community. "He is not someone who should be idolized," said Dayanara Alvarez, a second-year animal science major at Cal Poly. "Dolores Huerta deserves better."

The pressure to act is also building at the policy level. The California Assembly voted 68-0 to rename the March 31 holiday to Farmworkers Day, in a bill introduced by Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón and co-authored by every member of both chambers. The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors was scheduled to take up its own proposal to rename Cesar Chavez Day "Farmworkers Day" at its meeting today, March 24. Governor Gavin Newsom, who said he was "processing" the news, said the state would "reflect on a farmworkers movement and a labor movement that was much bigger than one man and celebrate that."

For Y.E.S. and the students who have made the Serve-a-Thon a North Coast institution, the service work itself is not in question. The harder question, the one Humboldt institutions are now publicly navigating, is which name belongs on the door.