Honoring Chavez
* I couldn’t help but react with amusement and sadness at George Ramos’ column “Campus Conflict: Students Given Lessons in Strategy” (April 25) regarding the disagreement on how best to honor Cesar Chavez. Chavez’s legacy to me was that he was a man who sacrificed all of his waking life so that others could live and work with dignity and pride.
I see both sides have come up with suggestions that neither honor nor carry on his beliefs and hopes. For USC to simply put up a “plaque” to honor him is disappointing. On the other hand, for La Raza Political Action Committee to demand a renaming of a “patch of grass” is equally disappointing.
May I suggest that administrators and students at USC work together to create a more fitting tribute to Cesar Chavez by taking advantage of all the fine qualities that this great university has to offer. Perhaps USC officials and members from La Raza could take time out from their busy schedules and venture out into their local neighborhood schools and lend them a helping hand! As a teacher, I know I welcome any help one wants to give me.
To me helping others, especially those who need it the most, would be a more fitting tribute to Cesar Chavez than a “plaque” or a “patch of grass.”
RIGOBERTO VASQUEZ
Ontario
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