1989_05 The Daily Collegian May 1989

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A SPECIAL EDITION OF THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
VOL XX    NO. 3
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FRESNO
May 198$
MEChA's 20th anniversary
observance is May 12
CSUF professor Dr. Lea Ybarra and
community activist Ben Benavidez will
head the speakers at MEChA's 20lh
Anniversary dinner/dance May 12,
MEChA Chair Karen Cogley and
Coalinga High senior Monica Mirales
will talk about student activism and
the Unity-Students 'for Responsible
Government party at the Community
Link center.
The theme of the program,
"Celebrating   our   past  to  win   our
future" will commemorate a movement
that started over 20 years ago.
Community Link is located at 1130
N.Wishon.
Dinner will start at 6 p.m., the
dance at 9 p.m. with music by disc
jockey Mark Lozada.
Tickets can be purchased at the
MEChA booth in the Free Speech
Area
For more information call 221--
7669.
Deadline for Chicano
,Commencement is May 5
May
ihe     deadline     for    ceremony    which       recognizes    each
applications to participate in the 13th
Annual Chicano Commcncmcni.
This year's celebration will be
Saturday, May 27 from 5:45 p.m. to
10 p.m. The actual ceremony will be
from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The CSUF Chicano Alumni
Association     sponsors the bilingual
graduate.
There is a SI0 participation fee.
Turn in applications to the
University Outreach Office in Joyal
Administration, room 251.
For more information call the
Outreach Office at 294-2048.    .
Culture Clash, a comedy troupe o* three Chicanos Irom Sacramento,
will headline Wednesdays Semanacte La Raza action irtthe
SaleliteShjdentUnton.SeePage4.        ^
La Voz: a 20 year legacy of la pluma morena'
By Jill Soltero
Staff Writer
Struggle and rebellion are
synonymous with the CSUF Chicano
movement that gripped the campus
during the late '60s and early 70s.
Bom from this activism was La Vozde
Aztlan.
La Voz, which actually began as La
Pluma Morena, was there to chronicle
the Chicano student movement from
the beginning and continues its legacy.
La Voz played a vital role in the
movement because it expressed
Chicano achievements, concerns, and
sentiments to the rest of the CSUF
community.
On May 2, 1969, La Pluma Morena
was first published and John F.
Ramirez was its editor. He was also
involved in the newly formed MEChA.
Issues which prevailed during that
time included: guaranteed financing for
La Raza Studies, the UFW grape
boycott, and concern ovet CSUF
police harassment towards Chicanos.
Chicanos also demanded control of one
edition of The Daily Collegian every
two weeks.
In the fall of 1970 La Pluma
Morena, was renamed La Voz de
Aztlan. The name may have changed.
but its purpose surely did not As
Ramirez stated 20 years ago in the first
editorial, "The intention of this paper
is to unite and not incite, to seek
cooperation, and not revenge, and to
end racism and not enhance it." ( Sec
page 2 for a reprint of this editorial in
its entirety).
During a recent interview, Angie
Rios, the Fail 1976 editor, said the La
Voz experience to her, and many other
students, was a valuable experience.
She stressed the importance of
having a campus Chicano publication
because it reaches the community level
and disseminates information.
"La Voz served as a communication
vehicle for the Chicano students and
for the community," she said.
Chicano issues in 1976 included the
desire to have fair representation of
Chicano pupils in the CSUF student
government, the UFW, and a variety
of Fresno Chicano community issues,
Rios said.
For Rios, who was a political
science/sociology major. La Voz
provided her the opportunity to develop
and improve her writing skills and also
taught her how the media worked.
She now owns the Rios Company in
Fresno which provides marketing,
public     relations,     and     political
consulting for her clients.
■   During  this year's mayoral race,
Rios was campaign manager for Karen
Humphrey,    whose    victory    made
Humphrey   the   city's   first   woman
mayor.
In 1987 Rios managed the Juan
Arambula campaign during his
successful run for a position on the
Fresno Unified School District Board
ofTruslces.
Since her La Voz days, Rios has
also assisted on the presidential
campaigns of Gcraldinc Fcrraro and
former Gov. Jerry Brown. She also
worked on the Los Angeles Olympics
Organizing Committee in 1984 with
Peter Ucubcroth.
Another La Voz editor of the early
70s was Lorenzo "Larry" Romero,
who has been a veteran news reporter
for one or the state's major
newspapers. The San Jose Mercury
News.
Romero, whose journalism option
at CSUF was. news-editorial, was
editor during the fall of 1974 and the
spring of 1975. The La Voz editorship,
he said, had a profound impact on his
life.
"La Voz allowed me to practice
reporting and writing on issues that
pertained to Chicanos, said Romero.
"The paper was also a learning
experience because it taught me what it
was like to do the job and how it was
like to be perceived by the
community," he said. "I give La Voz
the credit. It got me motivated."
Romero said that occasionally La
Voz was only seen as a minority
publication and nothing else.
"I think a common misconception is
that some people think that La Voz is
strictly a minority paper. But it's also
a newspaper. You still have to sell ads,
meet deadline pressure, and compete. It
was a valid experience and I still
cherish it.
"We have not taken a back seal to
anyone," Romero J continued. "We
competed journalistically. Wc were
able to hold our heads up and say,
'Hey, wc can do it.' La Voz is an
institution now."
He began working as a Fresno Bcc
reporter int1975 and continued there
after graduation for six years. For the
past nine years he has been reporting
for The Mercury News . He and.Rios
are solid proof that La Voz de Aztlan
breeds success.
But will La Voz continue to
flourish?
Please see LA VOZ page 3