From el Campo to Campus and Back Again

Abstract

Analyzing the Chicana/o student movement at the University of Washington (UW) from 1968 to 1975, this essay argues that affirmative action deserves greater recognition as a catalyst of the Chicana/o movement and that this theme can be productively explored in settings beyond the US Southwest. Beginning with an account of the origins of a student-driven affirmative action program at UW, I trace its effects in the recruitment of farmworker youth from eastern Washington to enroll at the university, their politicization as supporters of the United Farm Workers grape boycott, and their rapid emergence as leaders of the Movimiento in Washington State. In claiming their right to the campus, Chicana/o students sought affirmative action not merely in student and faculty recruitment, but in the transformation of the university to promote social justice in their communities. Through their activism, which linked campus issues to farmworker struggles and to the wider Movimiento, students developed a newly politicized understanding of their Chicana/o identity, which in turn served as the basis for continued organizing and social justice demands.