UCI Police Investigating Defacement of Chavez Photo
A picture of the late farm labor leader Cesar Chavez hanging on a UC Irvine bulletin board was reportedly defaced Wednesday in what campus police are investigating as a racial hate crime, officials said.
UC Irvine spokeswoman Karen Newell Young said Thursday the incident took place on a bulletin board hanging in Verano Place campus housing.
The picture of Chavez, who died on April 23, belonged to student Stephanie Lopez, 40, a doctoral candidate.
Lopez, who said she had known Chavez through her studies, said the poster was defaced with racial slurs.
“I feel really violated,” Lopez said. “I’m outraged because Cesar Chavez was a friend of mine. I knew him for many years and knew not only of his struggles not only for Latinos but for all poor people of all colors.”
Young denounced the incident Thursday and said, “Hate crimes and bigotry have no place at UCI, a center for learning which should remain free of intimidation and hostility.”
The incident remains under investigation, Young said.
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