SAN JOAQUIN DELTA COLLEGE has begun removing and covering artwork depicting Cesar Chavez following revelations published last week in a New York Times investigation.

The campus joins a growing list of institutions reassessing how to respond to allegations of sexual abuse against the labor leader.

In a campuswide message, Delta Superintendent/President Lisa Aguilera Lawrenson said the decision followed a recommendation from the Delta College Gallery Committee and represents an “initial step” as the institution evaluates Chavez’s place on campus.

“What will not change with the actions taken today is our commitment to social justice, our recognition of the contributions of farmworkers and immigrants, and our concern and care for survivors who have experienced harm and trauma here at home and around the world,” Lawrenson said. “Those values remain at the core of who we are at Delta College.”

A ceramic piece on the north exterior wall of the Goleman Library has been temporarily covered, and an application has been submitted under Administrative Procedure 6620 to formally remove the artwork.

The request will be reviewed by the college’s Heritage Committee, which is scheduled to meet Wednesday.

Decisions to be made

Inside the library, a large mural created by students under art professor Mario Moreno is being removed and returned to the artist. Additional Chavez-related artwork housed in the Dreamers Success Center is also being relocated to the college archives.

“These actions are not final,” the college said, noting that further decisions will be made following committee review.

The Heritage Committee — which includes college leadership, faculty, staff, students and a community representative — will consider approval of the removal of public art related to Chavez as part of its agenda. The item appears under new business, alongside public comment, which will allow community members to weigh in ahead of any decision.

“I was absolutely horrified,” said Belinda Seibel, a Delta College alumna now attending Sacramento State who has volunteered with the Western Farm Workers Association. “Reading the investigation and Dolores Huerta’s statement made me feel sick to my stomach.”

In a statement posted Wednesday to her verified Instagram account and Medium blog, Huerta — who grew up in Stockton and co-founded what became the United Farm Workers union, alongside Chavez and Gilbert Padilla — said she was among those abused by Chavez.

“I was absolutely horrified. Reading the investigation and Dolores Huerta’s statement made me feel sick to my stomach.”
Belinda Seibel, San Joaquin Delta College alumna

“As a young mother in the 1960s, I experienced two separate sexual encounters with Cesar,” Huerta wrote. “The first time I was manipulated and pressured … The second time I was forced, against my will.”

Huerta said both assaults resulted in pregnancies that she carried to term, adding that the children were raised by other families. She said she remained silent for decades, believing enduring such experiences was part of her sacrifice for the movement.

“That’s what makes it even more heartbreaking,” Seibel said. “That she felt she had to stay silent for the good of the movement.”

“What changed,” Huerta wrote, was learning that other victims — including girls as young as 12 or 13 at the time — had also come forward.

“The knowledge that he hurt young girls sickens me,” Huerta said. “Cesar’s actions do not reflect the values of our community and our movement.”

Feeling the emotional weight

The allegations have prompted swift responses nationwide. Planned celebrations of Chavez’s legacy have been canceled across California, and labor organizations, educators and public officials have issued statements expressing support for survivors.

California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom said the allegations were “deeply saddening,” urging the public to center survivors rather than protect powerful figures.

“We must center survivors rather than protect the legacy and power of predatory men,” Siebel Newsom said.

At Delta College, administrators acknowledged the emotional weight of the moment, describing the past week as “incredibly difficult” for the campus community.

“For many of us, this moment brings feelings of conflict, frustration and anger,” the statement said. “Those feelings are entirely valid.”

Seibel, the Delta alum, said the college’s response — including removing artwork — reflects a necessary shift in how institutions reckon with Chavez’s legacy.

“I think it’s completely necessary to remove everything Chavez-related on campus,” she said. “Dolores Huerta is a Delta alumna — why not honor her legacy? There are so many other leaders like Larry Itliong who are often forgotten.”

The response is unfolding on a campus where both Chavez and Huerta’s legacies are physically embedded. In 2018, an effort led by Delta history professors Lynn Hawley and Sarah Seekatz resulted in trustees renaming a central space on the northeast side of campus near Delta’s Science and Math Building as Dolores Huerta Plaza, honoring the Stockton-raised labor leader and Delta alumna for her decades of advocacy.

Even as Chavez-related artwork is being removed or reconsidered, Seibel said the broader movement should not be reduced to one figure.

“This movement was built on the backs of farmworkers, not just Chavez alone,” she said. “We can honor that while also recognizing the harm done to women and girls.”

This story originally appeared in Stocktonia.