You Can’t Erase Us: The Legacy of Latino History
On February 12th, the president of UT Austin, Jim Davis, announced the consolidations of specific departments inside of the College of Liberal Arts. Students, staff, and faculty received an email relaying this information, which included the following:
The College of Liberal Arts operates at around a 15-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio but is divided into 26 separate departments with student-to-faculty ratios that range from less than 2-to-1 to almost 60-to-1. I asked our Provost and college leadership to evaluate the fairness and effectiveness of this organizational model, recognizing the important distinction between the structure of a department and the subjects we teach, which can exist in many departments…
The email then laid out two new departments and the seven departments that would fall underneath them. The first is the Department of European and Eurasian Studies, which includes the Department of French and Italian; the Department of Germanic Studies; and the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies. The second new department, the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, includes the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies; Department of American Studies; Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies; and Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
Besides these few details, not much was said about the consolidation. Karma Chávez, a professor and Chair of the Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at UT Austin, tells us that “it's unclear whether something called Latino Studies will even be able to exist within the confines of the new consolidated department. It's unclear if we will have the budget to put on the kinds of programming that we do now. It's unclear whether those budgets will be maintained or if they'll be dissolved. It's unclear whether the staff who put these events together are going to be able to continue as staff in the new department.”
As it stands, little has been communicated to the faculty of these departments and to their students about the changes. All we see is an attack directed toward the history and education of Latinos. From the compact for academic excellence in higher education to the successful dismantling of DEI, the history and education of Latinos is a new target for both federal and state governments. The state of Texas is not shy about their feelings toward ethnic studies, and with recent support from the federal government, public education is taking the brunt of their attacks.
Effective since January 2024, Senate Bill 17 prohibited public institutions of higher education from engaging in certain specified diversity, equity, and inclusion activities. This includes the changes to the Texas Education Code 51.3525 and an extension to include state agencies and K-12 public schools. As Dr. Chávez puts it, “there’s a big national push right now to say that these interdisciplinary fields of study, which have been in the making for well over half a century, are not significant areas of study.” With support from the federal government, UT Austin has begun to take steps forward in minimizing their importance.
This is shaking the Latino community at UT Austin; now the fight has elevated as one of the foremost prominent figures in Latino Chicano history has infamously put the community under scrutiny. On March 18th, 2026, the New York Times released an investigation that found extensive evidence against Cesar Chávez of sexual abuse (including rape) and the grooming of minors. Cesar Chávez was an American labor unionist and a co-founder of the United Farm Workers (UFW) and was regarded as one of the heroes and representatives of the Latino community. Among the women to come forward was Dolores Huerta, a fellow co-founder of the United Farm Workers. In an interview and in her own personal statement, she stated that Chávez had assaulted her, a “secret she had kept for nearly 60 years.” These testimonies came to light before the annual National Cesar Chávez Day, formerly celebrated on March 31st.
Many states and major cities canceled celebrations and have called for the removal and renaming of streets, schools, and other tributes to Chávez. In California, the celebration remained, but the national holiday was renamed Farmworkers Day. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, canceled all celebrations, and a Cesar Chávez statue formerly standing in front of El Rey's grocery near 16th and Mineral streets was razed. The state of Arizona, rather than renaming the holiday like California and Minnesota, repealed Cesar Chávez Day entirely. Multiple cities across the U.S. are considering or have begun the process of renaming streets named after Cesar Chávez or have stopped plans to name streets after him. In Texas, after the New York Times investigation, Governor Greg Abbott announced that the state would no longer be observing Cesar Chávez Day. In fact, the governor announced that he would work with the Texas Legislature in the coming 90th Legislative Session to remove the holiday altogether.
Continuing to honor abusers like Chávez and ignoring the horrific actions of important historical figures is unacceptable. However, note how different the response to the Chávez revelations compares to the inaction regarding our living abusers: our president has had many sexual assault and rape allegations made against him, has troubling ties with Jeffrey Epstein, and has had to pay out almost $90 million in total in defamation and sexual abuse lawsuits. Yet many state officials, including Governor Abbott, continue to support the president and promote his political agenda. These quick actions in response to the New York Times story were not about the accusations and allegations of abuse themselves; they were about using this opportunity to erase a Chicano, Latino man from history.
Rather than having conversations with the communities involved and figuring out a plan to continue to tell the history of the UFW with a more complete and accurate narrative, actions were taken immediately and from the top down to remove this chunk of history from the books. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) announced on March 23rd for school systems in Texas to redirect activities tied to Cesar Chávez and announced that Texas school systems should eliminate, modify, and otherwise alter any learning activities, individual lessons, and ancillary materials to remove references to Chávez. As Dr. Karma Chávez tells us:
“I think it's one thing for Greg Abbott or white elected officials to make these decisions to cancel celebrations. The Texas Education Agency making the decision to remove the requirement to talk about Chávez in the social studies curriculum, I think those are opportunistic decisions. They're a part of ‘We hate DEI, we've always hated DEI, so good, now we can justify getting rid of this one little piece of what we see as DEI.’”
Many other dark parts of our history have been and will continue to be taught in the curriculum. However, when Latino and Chicano history is under the spotlight, instead of a reckoning or reevaluation, the result is outright elimination. The actions of TEA and the decision by UT officials to consolidate the Latino studies department are not unrelated. The education and history of Latinos are not only undervalued but also erasable in the eyes of many officials in charge of public education.
UT Austin students across these consolidated departments have protested the decision, which signals the significance these departments have for students. In the Latino Studies Department alone, there are related offices such as the Latino Research Institute and the Center for Mexican American Studies; all of these initiatives also create communities of scholars and students. The Latino Studies Department hosts several events throughout the year that celebrate and share Latino culture with students. Why is all of this work so chronically undervalued? In conversation with Dr. Chávez, she explored the UT administration's involvement (or lack thereof).
“I don't think anybody has really tried to understand what our department has done, you know? We've invited administrators to come to our classes, no one's taken us up on it. You'll never see the dean or the provost or the president stopping by any of our events to understand more about what we do.”
The administration does not take part in the Latino Studies Department yet feels comfortable minimizing its existence. Officials like Abbot also feel comfortable removing supportive programs such as DEI and removing educational opportunities for students who have benefited from these programs from the beginning. As Dr. Chávez emphasizes:
“Ultimately, students are going to be the biggest losers, right? Because you're exactly correct that Latino Studies is more than just an academic department — it is a site of community building, it's a site of affirming diverse viewpoints of all sorts, and it's a place that says to all students, regardless of their ethnic identity, that you belong here, and that having fun together and learning together is as important as what you do in the classroom.”
Efforts to remove what prominent Republicans may view as threatening ideology in our education will inevitably flood into removing history that is already undertaught. From the UFW to the variety of historical topics taught within the Latino Studies classes, the history of Latinos will begin to diminish if the state continues to take steps in the removal of important Latino programs and people. Dr. Chávez tells us:
“The elimination of the Mexican-American and Latino Studies Department amid a time when we really need departments like this to help guide the community through difficult conversations from a scholarly-informed perspective, you know, the irony is not lost on me…that both of these things have happened at the same time. It's almost by design. I think this is going to be, and it already is, just the beginning."
With the consolidation of the Latino Studies Department and the release of the investigation revealing the horrifying actions of Cesar Chávez, we are at a crucial time of redirection. Both preserving our history and articulating its importance are vital for the Latino community. While the governor and university administrators may be leaving students, staff, and community members in the dark, we will continue to shine light on our history. Despite these astronomical and successful attacks on Chicano and Latino history, the community will fight to keep what generations before us fought to achieve.