Here for a Reason: 1969 to 2019 - Fifty Years of Ethnic Studies at Cal Poly

This project commemorates 50 years of Ethnic Studies student activism and the program’s development. In 1968, students protested across the nation and at Cal Poly against institutionalized racism and educational inequities, leading to the establishment of the first Ethnic Studies programs. Cal Poly’s Ethnic Studies Department was created in Fall 1969 as a culmination of these students’ efforts to recruit and retain students and faculty of color and to transform the curriculum to serve the community. The department disappeared in the 1980s but, again, through student organizing and movement building, was reborn 25 years ago in 1994. This catalog represents the onsite exhibit from 2019 of the same name