Cesar_Cruz
César Cruz is a gang violence prevention advocate[1] and Dean of Secondary Schools Program at Harvard University. He was born in Guadalajara c. 1974,[1][2] coming to the United States as an undocumented immigrant at age 9,[3] and holds a B.A. in history from UC Berkeley,[4] and a doctorate in educational leadership from Harvard Graduate School of Education.[5] On May 1, 1992, he was one of 65 people arrested marching on the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge after the acquittal of officers charged with beating Rodney King.[1][6] In 1995, he was involved in a fifteen-day hunger strike at University of California, Irvine.[7][8] The 1995 strike was undertaken by Cruz and others from UC Berkeley and UC Irvine to protect and promote affirmative action at UC Irvine.[9] Cruz was later part of a 26-day hunger strike in 2004, which resulted in Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger agreeing to refinance the West Contra Costa Unified School District's high interest loans.[10] He was keynote speaker for the Cesar Chavez Convocation at UC Santa Cruz in 2014 and Hermanos Unidos National Conference[11] at California State University, Fullerton in 2017.[12][13] Research at Homeboy Industries, a job skills program in the Los Angeles area for gang members, served as his Harvard doctoral capstone work.[14][15] He was the first male Mexican-immigrant to earn a doctorate at Harvard's Education Leadership program.[16]
He was awarded the Orange County Human Rights Award in 1995 and the Peacemaker of the Year award by the California State Senate in 2005.[1] In 2011, he was awarded a local Jefferson Award for Public Service for his work with the Homies Empowerment program.[17]