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CORVALLIS - Oregon State University is celebrating April as Cesar Chavez Tribute Month in recognition of the late labor leader's contributions to worker's rights.

A variety of activities, most free and open to the public, are planned each week throughout the month, ranging from talks and marches to films and a candlelight vigil.

Chavez, who died on April 23, 1993, at the age of 66, was a co-founder of the United Farm Workers labor union. He was one of the initiators of the national grape, lettuce and wine boycotts in the early 1970s. Chavez's United Farm Workers resulted in the first collective bargaining agreements and union hiring halls for migrant workers. His efforts were recognized as he became the second Hispanic ever to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a posthumous ceremony in 1994.

Among the events scheduled at OSU are a silent march and farm worker panel discussion set to start at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 12. The march begins at the university administration building and winds through the Memorial Union Quad before ending at OSU's Centro Cultural Cesar Chavez (Cesar Chavez Cultural Center). From 5 to 7 p.m. on Easter Sunday, April 23, a candlelight vigil, commemorating the seventh anniversary of Chavez's death, will be held in the Memorial Union Quad.

For more information about Cesar Chavez Tribute Month at OSU, contact OSU Student Involvement at 541-737-2101.