Feminist Mobilization in MEChA: A Southern California Case Study

Abstract

This article examines the impact of Chicana activism and Chicana feminist mobilization on a southern California chapter of MEChA—the largest and oldest Chicana/o student activist network in the United States—from 1970 through the 1990s. It argues that Chicana activism, and particularly Chicana feminist mobilizations, created the necessary tensions and challenges to transform CSUN (California State University, Northridge) MEChA and its membership. As a result, CSUN MEChA integrated aspects of Chicana feminism into its platform and cultivated Chicana leadership, with an impact beyond the confines of one campus. This article draws heavily from El Popo, the Chicana/o student newspaper of CSUN, as well as from interviews, by the author, of former Chicana and Chicano student activists, to track important discussions and changing points of view over a thirty-year period.