San José State University unveiled a new mural Friday outside the Diaz Compean Student Union, placing Filipino American farmworker leaders like Larry Itliong, Philip Vera Cruz and Pete Velasco on permanent display on campus for the first time. The four-sided panorama, painted by artist Francesca “ChiChai” Mateo, caps years of student organizing aimed at correcting what advocates called a glaring omission from an earlier campus memorial.
The mural sits on a pillar in front of the student union and depicts the economic, social and cultural contributions of Filipinos and Filipino Americans throughout U.S. history, with particular emphasis on the labor movement, according to San José State University. Mateo, a 2013 SJSU graduate, led the project that spans all four sides of the cement pillar. As San José Spotlight reports, volunteers helped paint part of the mural during a community paint day last month, and school officials formally unveiled the finished work during a ceremony Friday.
Faces Missing From an Earlier Memorial
The push for the mural traces back to Filipino students at San José State who advocated for permanent artwork commemorating Filipino laborers' contributions to the farmworkers rights movement, according to the outlet's reporting. Their effort targeted a specific absence: the university's 2008 Arch of Dignity, Equality, and Justice honors the United Farm Workers movement but, as the mural's endowment campaign notes, it “notably omits the vital contributions of Filipino American labor leaders.”
That gap mattered because the farmworkers rights movement began with Larry Itliong and other Filipino laborers before Mexican American farmworkers, including César Chávez and Dolores Huerta, joined the cause, per San José Spotlight's account. Itliong, Vera Cruz and Velasco led the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, the union behind the 1960s Delano grape strike. The new mural, organizers say, provides a more holistic picture of that history by representing the Filipino laborers left out of the arch.
Panels Spanning Farms, Technology and Civic Life
One panel recreates iconic photographs of historic Pinoytown while depicting the Santa Clara Valley, once called the Valley of Heart's Delight for its fruit orchards, according to SJSU's newsroom. That imagery reflects a community that grew fast: the U.S. census counted 45 Filipinos in Santa Clara County in 1920, a number that climbed to 857 by 1930, per the San José Public Library.
Beyond the farmworker leaders, the mural also features Robert Ragsac Sr., an aerospace engineer; Angelica Cortez, executive director of Lead Filipino; Estella Habal, emerita SJSU professor of interdisciplinary social sciences; journalist Lloyd Lacuesta; and Erwin Mina, executive board president of the Filipino American National Historical Society Museum, San José Spotlight reports. Organizers say the mural also highlights Filipino contributions to technology, public health and civic engagement, rounding out a narrative that goes beyond the fields.
Years of Advocacy, Then a Delayed Unveiling
The project is the culmination of years of advocacy by the Filipino Alumni Network, SJSU alumni and community leaders, per SJSU's newsroom. Alan Gouig, who founded and presides over the Filipino Alumni Network and chairs the mural committee, said the project aims to show the regional impact of Filipinos, according to San José Spotlight. Gouig also said the mural will become the next major cultural landmark on campus since the Victory Salute statue and the Arch of Dignity, Equality and Justice.
Timelines for the project shifted along the way. An Associated Students resolution passed 12-0 on Oct. 9, 2024, described the mural committee as organizing to unveil the work by October 2025, according to a SJSU Associated Students document. SJSU's own newsroom later scheduled the unveiling for Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, the date the ceremony ultimately took place. A mural contract shows the project was awarded to Mateo with a notice of intent to award issued in April 2025, per records from bidbanana.thebidlab.com.
Funding and What Comes Next
The Filipino Alumni Network has raised $100,000 toward the project, San José Spotlight reports, with about $50,000 of that earmarked for the mural's long-term preservation, per Gouig. A separate matching pledge from the K/T Foundation offered up to $25,000 in matched donations, creating the potential to raise a total of $50,000, according to the university's mural endowment fund page. SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson had committed $25,000 from the Diaz Compean Fund to the project following a 2023 student rally, according to the Associated Students resolution.
The alumni network is now seeking an additional $30,000 to produce a documentary and cover other project costs, San José Spotlight reports; the planned film is intended to highlight the advocacy that led to the mural's creation. Student organizations including Asian American Art in Action and Students for Filipino Farmworkers helped reignite the broader effort, according to SJSU's endowment page.
Students and Faculty React
Kayla Taduran told San José Spotlight she was amazed the project had happened at all, saying she had initially wondered whether people would care. Faith Castro, an SJSU student and president of its Akbayan club, said the mural demonstrates that the university listens and shows the power of students working together toward a greater purpose, according to the outlet. Akbayan marked its 50th anniversary during Filipino American History Month this year.
Wayne Jopanda, an assistant professor of Asian American studies at San José State, said the mural serves as an educational platform that may lead people to learn more about Filipino participation in the farmworkers rights movement. He added that history books have left Filipinos out, and that the mural can help reeducate people about their history and their solidarity with other communities, per San José Spotlight. Teniente-Matson said the mural represents community strength and the persistence of student and alumni advocates, the outlet reports.
Part of a Wider Pattern of Filipino Farmworker Murals
San José State's mural follows similar efforts elsewhere in California. The first mural honoring Filipino American farmworkers was completed in Los Angeles' Historic Filipinotown in 1995 and featured Itliong, according to the California Museum. A 2013 mural at the Milpitas Library, measuring four feet by seven feet and created by Niki Escobar, Yunnie Snyder and Jessica Antonio, depicted Itliong alongside Vera Cruz, Andy Imutan, Ben Hines, Pete Velasco, Chávez and Huerta, per Positively Filipino.
