Sonny Montes and Mexican American Activism in Oregon

The "Save Colegio Cesar Chavez" Campaign: A Local Manifestation of the Chicano Movement

164 The “Save Colegio Cesar Chavez” Campaign: A Local Manifestation of the Chicano Movement It would be difficult to make the case that Colegio Cesar Chavez played a significant role in the history of U.S. higher education. Its library was tiny, numbering perhaps 40,000 volumes. Its salaries were uncompetitive, and for a while nonexistent. Most of the time, its core faculty included no PhDs. Its student body was small and shrinking—at no point in its nearly ten years of existence did its full-time enrollment reach 100. Lacking an endowment, it was dependent on outside sources to fund the education of its needy students. For months on end, its furnaces did not work. As a symbol, however, it was very important. For five years, the Colegio’s struggle for survival was a recurring front-page news story in the Pacific Northwest, and its leaders became well known to the public. To many observers, the school assumed the role of David in a battle against a triad of goliaths—HUD, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), and the Northwest Association. The establishment, it seemed, was picking on the downtrodden. The Colegio’s struggle was also an important regional manifestation of the Chicano movement. While there was more to the Chicano movement in the Pacific Northwest in the mid-1970s than the struggle of the Colegio, no other component of that movement attracted as much public attention. One reason it did so was that its leaders, especially Sonny Montes, were skilled in using the tactics available to mobilize support. In addition, Sonny and his colleagues were able to tap into an established network of like-minded people. The Colegio The campus of the Colegio Cesar Chavez was modest in size: the total land area was approximately five acres. Although the terrain in that part of Mt. Angel was flat, the college grounds had a fair number of trees, a mix of conifers and deciduous varieties. At one edge of the campus, there was even a small orchard of nut trees. Situated to the south of Mt. Angel’s town center, the Colegio was The “Save Colegio Cesar Chavez” Campaign 165 divided into two somewhat unequal parts by South Main Street. On the east side of the street, adjoining the property still occupied by the Benedictine sisters, was Guadalupe Hall, the college’s largest building, which housed the cafeteria, a day-care center, and a ballroom that was used for dances, Masses, weddings, and other big events. Across the street were five other buildings belonging to the Colegio. Three were sturdy modern structures: Huelga Hall, which included the Colegio’s administrative offices and conference rooms on the first floor and dormitories and classrooms on the upper floor, and two other residence halls, Sala del Sol and Sala de la Luna. The two other structures were weather-beaten wood houses that had been used for art instruction since Mt. Angel College days. One was called Studio San Benito or simply the art building, and the other was referred to as either the studio annex or the pottery building. In January 1974, at the start of its first full quarter of operations, the Colegio issued a mimeographed handbook titled “Colegio Cesar Chavez: Philosophy, Goals, History, Faculty, Admissions, Financial, Academic and General Information.” Not exactly a catalog, since it did not include course descriptions, it still provided important information about the recently renamed institution. For one, it revealed that a change had occurred in the degree plans offered by the school. Students henceforth had the option of pursuing either a certificate of competency, which required 60 credit hours in a designated area of concentration, or a BA degree, demanding a total of 192 credit hours, with 60 of them in a field of concentration. That section signaled that the decision to change the institution from a four-year college to a two-year institute, one reached after interminable debate, had been modified, with no fanfare or public discussion. The modification is not hard to fathom. Since the Colegio was desperate for income and students, it made little sense to limit the applicant pool to certificate-seeking students and turn away those who wanted a bachelor’s degree. For the next eighteen months—until a new catalog was printed and the certificate of competency option was quietly dropped—the Colegio would operate as both an unaccredited two-year institute and an unaccredited four-year college.1 Also reflecting the Colegio’s need...