ISSI faculty members Christian Paiz, Cristina Mora, and Laura Pérez discuss efforts to review the naming of the Cesar Chavez Student Center, reframing the conversation around accountability, representation and public memory. Cristina Mora said the allegations come at a particularly "fraught" moment for the Latinx community, "but it also provides an opportunity to come heal together. We need to reassure our students that despite these issues happening, they still belong here." Christian Paiz said this moment exposes a deeper issue in how history has been taught and remembered: "One of the key problems is that we have focused too much on this man. As we move forward, I would hope that history recognizes ordinary people involved in the farmworkers movement." Laura Pérez framed the moment as part of a wider push toward accountability: "As we work as a society towards greater democracy, social justice and respect for each other, we are able to more clearly see, name and hold accountable highly visible figures in our society for their behavior when it is at odds with the values we claim to hold."
April 10, 2026