El Congreso
The oldest Chican@/Latin@ student organization and official M.E.Ch.A Chapter at UC Santa Barbara. It is comprised of sixteen-subcommittes that address various areas of interest such as law, education, engineering, health and much more. El Congreso is here to meet the needs of our Chican@/Latin@ community and UCSB students through various workshops, programming, conferences, and direct action. El Congreso's purpose is to assist, support, defend, and respond to the urgent needs of the Chican@/Latin@ community and partake in the struggle for dignity, self-determination and advancement of our people.
Ourstory
"Never forget that our right, as Chican@s, to be here was won by other people who came before us and paid, sometimes with their own blood. We have the responsibility to those people to do something about those injustices of this world and that includes keeping the doors open for those yet to come"
- Arnulfo Casillas, 1975 El Congreso Chair
Santa Barbara has a very unique history. This historical place played a major role in the beginnings of Chicano Movement and the foundation of M.E.Ch.A (Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlan). One of the earliest organizations at UCSB, and other universities, was UMAS (United Mexican American Students). In 1969 various members of UMAS, along with other organizations, students, and community activists from across the country met in Santa Barbara, CA in Francisco Torres (now Santa Catalina Dormitories) to host the "El Plan de Santa Barbara Conference." This meeting resulted in the drafting of one of the founding documents of the Chican@ Movement which helped establish the groundworks for a rise in Chican@ presence at universities and colleges. Not only did this encuentro, set the foundation for a demand of Chican@ Studies Departments, but it called for unity among student groups in order to create a network of activists under the umbrella of M.E.Ch.A. UMAS then proceeded to change their name to M.E.Ch.A. and worked under the name of M.E.Ch.A until 1973, when a split occurred within the organization due to personal differences that had led to bigger conflicts. In the fall of 1975 various Veteranos, who had entered the university thanks to the GI Bill, called for an end to the split between Chican@ activists at UCSB. El Congreso came into existence as a call for unity among all Chican@ students. This organization represented a merging of the two existing Chican@ factions at that time in UCSB, M.E.Ch.A and La Raza Libre. That year 100 raza students at UCSB came together to form El Congreso. El Congreso represented and expressed a unity of all raza students under one movement, one organization, who's vision and purpose was to be of service to the communities of Santa Barbara, Isla Vista, and Goleta. Since then, El Congreso has taken great pride in giving voice to the Chican@/Latin@ students at UCSB.
