Spartan Daily - Serving San Jose State University since 1934

Issue date: 1/30/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Anne Rigor Students walk by the Student Union on Monday as construction continues on the Cesar Chavez monument.

Media Credit: Luke Cunningham The old fountain near the Market Cafe and Music building is being converted to a memorial for Cesar Chavez.

The chain-link fence blocking the area west of the Student Union will be the home of a monument honoring Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers labor movement.

Most of the construction, including the surrounding concrete footwork, has already been completed, but the area will remain fenced-off for another two to three months, said Tony Valenzuela, associate vice president of Facilities Development and Operations at SJSU.

"The weather's cold so I'd rather walk through here, I guess," said Alex Chang, a junior business marketing major who uses the Music building as a shortcut to get around the blocked area.

The monument, which will feature the original fountain but with new tiling, a large arched walkway and murals, was proposed by the university and supported by the Cesar Chavez Memorial Fund at SJSU.

In his obituary dated April 24, 1993, the New York Times said this about Chavez, "Blending the nonviolent resistance of Gandhi with the organizational skills of his mentor, the social activist Saul Alinsky, Mr. Chavez captured worldwide attention in the 1960s.

"Leading an initially lonely battle to unionize the fields and orchards of California, he issued a call to boycott grapes that soon became a cause célèbre."

Work was needed to fix cracked tiles around the old fountain at the site near the Market Cafe and the Music building.

"We combined the artwork and the need to repair the whole area," Valenzuela said. "It was sort of a partnership to get both of those done at the same time, so we isolated the cost of the monument versus the cost of the maintenance for the ground work."

The monument itself, however, has yet to be constructed.

"Imagine a big arch with two seven-by-seven (foot) columns," Valenzuela said.

Judith Baca, an artist and UCLA professor, designed the monument and is also working on the accompanying murals. She was in competition with other artists who submitted proposals for the project.

The monument will be entirely constructed on site, and once it goes up, the murals will be attached to the arch, Valenzuela said.

"It's a 25-foot Mayan corbelled arch with five murals embedded into the niches of mission circular arches," Baca said. "This represents the Mission era, and the corbelled entrance dates back to pre-Hispanic times," Baca said.

There will also be a glass United Farm Workers eagle that's part of the monument, Baca said.

Some of the murals include art representing Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America, and Mahatma Gandhi, both of whom were critical to inspiring development of the farm workers labor union and civil rights movement, Baca said.

There are also two images of farm workers with short hoes, which were tools abolished by Cesar Chavez's union because of the back injuries associated with them, Baca said.

"This is a unique memorial. It's been in the works for seven years," Valenzuela said.

Ninety percent of the main walkway was done during summer break, and the rest will overlap two to three weeks into the semester, said Valenzuela.

A meeting is scheduled for Friday to put together festivities and celebrations for the project's unveiling, Martinez said.

Valenzuela said the area by the cafeteria has been improved with a wider sidewalk.

"You don't have to walk another mile. You're just walking an extra 20 feet to get where you're going," Valenzuela said.

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