The life of Cesar Chavez will be commemorated in a variety of events Thursday on campus.

The Main Library will honor the civil rights leader at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in the Cesar E. Chavez Collection on the ground floor. There will be lectures on both the life of Chavez and how to negotiate change through nonviolent protest. Presenters include present and former members of the Movimiento Estudiantil Xicano de Aztlan and MSU history Professor Jerry Garcia.

Chavez is best remembered for his role in organizing the National Farm Workers Association, which would later become the United Farm Workers. Through boycotts and hunger strikes, Chavez and the association raised awareness of the plight of migrant farm workers. The day also honors the 10th anniversary of the founding of the library's Chavez collection. The collection is the only one of its kind in the Midwest and is the result of a 1994 student-led hunger protest, said Ethnic Studies librarian Diana Rivera.

Wonders Hall will host a special celebration dinner Thursday, complete with a mariachi band. The band Mariachi Cora will perform Mexican music from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.