UT El Paso Eliminates Cesar Chavez Day

In their defense, the UTEP faculty senate representatives say they voted to take away the Chavez Day holiday in a rush. According to UTEP’s The Prospector:

“It was a hard decision to choose,” said Lieb Carl, professor of biological sciences and president of the Faculty Senate, who was a member of the Catalog Calendar committee that proposed the Cesar Chavez holiday in the 1990s. “It wasn’t our idea to give up the holiday but we had to act quickly because the state did this to us and it was going to affect this year.”

So now UTEP’s Latino students don’t get March 31st off, and it’s caused controversy among some people. Part of the problem is that the faculty senate had to chose 12  school holidays and Chavez Day is optional in Texas. As such, the faculty senate chose their option.

“Culturally, I think it’s a big deal here in El Paso, being a Hispanic institution some students will take offense,” said Daniel Mcdonald, senior graphic design major. “I wouldn’t be surprised that some students won’t even realize we will not have the day off and it shows how some people don’t really care.”

Sad but true. Still, there will be Cesar Chavez events organized around campus and celebrations will continue as planned. The difference is that the option now stands square with the students, go to class or go to a Chavez Day event. Granted, not all classes and events will coincide, so the option may very well be reduced to a few. But it’ll still be interesting to see how this whole thing pans out.