Their message: Unity and organization can effectively change the world.

Former participants of the Movimiento Estudiantil Xicano de Aztlan, or MEXA, organization's weeklong hunger strike reassembled Saturday afternoon for a conference to discuss their activism during their time at MSU.

The 1996 MEXA students started the water-only hunger strike to force university officials to join the United Farm Workers' grape boycott, Todd Mireles, the event organizer said.

The boycott, which was led by Cesar Chavez, was in response to the poor paying of grape workers.

Although MSU did not join the national boycott, university officials decided to allow hall governments to choose if they wanted to participate.

This led to the creation of a "no grape day" on March 31 in the cafeterias, Mireles said.

The "no grape day" is still observed in campus cafeterias.

The event, which commemorated the 10-year anniversary since the boycott, gave students the opportunity to hear about issues Chicano/Latino students have faced.

"It was important to see what they went through," said Crystal Cuevas, a physiology sophomore.

"When you're fighting hard for something, all you see is victories and forget about the hard things."

According to a 1996 State News article, hunger strike participant Mark Torres was hospitalized for low blood sugar during the fasting but continued to protest.

After a week of protesting, the university made concessions to end the strike, Mireles said.

"It would have been great, had a grape boycott been implemented," said Maria Zavala, a hunger strike participant.

"We got so much more out of it. It took a long time, about 10 years, to see all that change and to see the products of the hunger strike."

Zavala said after the hunger strike, not only were lifelong relationships built, but also the students participated in other organizations to confront issues that groups like the North American Indigenous Student Organization faced.

Students and officials at the event also celebrated the creation of a doctoral program in Chicano/Latino studies.

"This is the second (program) of its kind in the whole country for Chicano studies," Mireles said.

The participants sent the message that students need to organize and make a change on MSU's campus.

"The message I wanted to send out was that anything is possible," Zavala said.

She also said it's important to secure funding for these programs, such as an endowment.

Zavala said that Chicano/Latino fraternities and sororities along with Culturas de las Razas Unidas do a commendable job at raising money for the homeless or Hurricane Katrina victims, but they don't do enough to affect local programs.

Funding the Chicano/Latino studies program was one issue the participants felt needed to be addressed at MSU.

"The degree program has put us on the map for leadership in Chicano/Latino studies," Zavala said.

"Like everything else, we have a specialization program that has difficulty getting funded. We're missing the 100-percent support of the university."