CECCHE continues search for new name

Latino communities grieve historical figure

By Melanie Arias, August 25, 2026

Cal Poly Pomona’s Cesar E. Chávez Center for Higher Education is still in the process of renaming, said Joel Gutierrez, executive director of campus engagement and belonging, following Cesar Chávez’s sexual assault and rape allegations detailed in The New York Times early March 2026. 

The New York Times interviewed more than 60 people and gathered extensive evidence that pointed toward Chávez having sexually abused and raped multiple women and children, including Latina civil rights activist Dolores Huerta. According to The New York Times article, one of the youngest children had been 13-year-old Ana Murguia, who is now 66, with Chávez having known her since she was 8 years old.     

Gutierrez said the committee working on the new name, called CECCHE Naming Working Group, will get more feedback from the community, with a decision regarding the name expected before the end of the semester. 

CECCHE released a statement five months ago on it’s website, acknowledging the community and those impacted by the allegations, as well as announcing the start of a period of collective mourning. 

“Grief can look a lot of different ways,” said Claudia Garcia-Des Lauriers, the director of Kellogg’s Honor Program and co-chair on the committee to rename the Cesar E. Chávez center. 

In ancient Mexico and Central America, there is a ritual practiced when a building is to be demolished or renovated, according to Lauriers. The ritual acknowledges the building and thanks it for its service, as most buildings are either dedicated to the gods or are treated like living beings, Lauriers said. 

The center covered its name plaque with black cover in March, a color signifying grief in Hispanic culture and the first step in the healing process for the center and the community, Lauriers said. 

Photos of Chávez have also been taken down in the cultural center and put into storage, said Uma Funk, CPP music performance student and lead community empowerment ambassador at CECCHE. 

CECCHE student ambassadors represented CPP’s centers for transformation, retention, equity and empowerment at the fall 2026 student orientation. Carolina Rvas, CPP biology student and community empowerment ambassador at CECCHE, said student ambassadors clarified to attendees the plans to change the name. 

“It’s an ongoing process,” Gutierrez said. “We’re engaging with the community to solidify what they want the center to be called.” 

Pomona’s Culture Arts Commission and City Council approved changes to the murals of Chávez May 5 at Pomona’s Cesar Chávez Park. Pomona’s city council also hosted a Pomona Parks and Recreation Commission meeting Aug. 20 to discuss the renaming of the park. 

“Alteration would consist of the removal of the depiction of Cesar Chávez on the right side of the mural and replace his likeness with that of Dolores Huerta,” according to a staff report from City of Pomona’s Cultural Arts Commission. Illustration by Paul Botello

“Dolores Huerta’s lifelong activism continues to inspire movements for equity, education and workers’ rights across the U.S. “Si se puede” is a term rooted in the struggle of working-class Latinos,” according to Paul Botello. “It was the rallying cry of the United Farm Worker’s Union in the 1970s.” Illustration by Paul Botello

Other college campuses across California with relations or mentions of Chávez have been proactive in either removing or covering portraits, including San Diego State University and Sonoma State University. 

“There were a lot of institutions that self-erased,” Gutierrez said. “We didn’t want to do that here.” 

During the spring, Gutierrez said he formed the committee with the goal of renaming the center and assessing the overall impact on the community alongside student ambassadors from the cultural center and faculty. 

Along with student ambassadors Rvas and Funk, the committee also includes Gutierrez, Lauriers, Cecilia Santiago-González, Javier Cañas, Jose M. Aguilar-Hernandez, Alma Avila and Maria Gisela Sanchez Cobo. 

The students of CECCHE hosted a listening event called Café con CECCHE during spring 2026 for the community to come together to have coffee and share thoughts, feelings and ideas for the center’s new name. 

“We wanted to treat this as a mourning period,” Rvas said. “We wanted students to feel welcome to say what they wanted and how they felt about everything that happened. The students didn’t feel like it was a mourning period from what I remember, they didn’t want to be associated with him anymore.” 

Similar to the listening events, Gutierrez said he launched a community-wide survey to figure out thoughts and feelings for the center and ideas for a new name, with hundreds of people participating. 

“I had the idea of slowing down the process,” Lauriers said. “We needed a minute to grieve, for everyone to be sad or angry.” 

There has been no financial impact on the cultural center’s budget, according to Gutierrez.