A rally in support of the national rallies occurring today, “A Day Without An Immigrant” is scheduled to be held at California State University, Fresno at noon in the Free Speech Area speaker platform next to the Peace Garden.

The event is organized by the several recognized student organizations: El Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), Campus Peace, Trabajadores de la Raza as well as two off campus student organizations First Nations and National Association of Social Workers.

Organizers Anthony Yrigollen and Walter Ramirez, Fresno State students, they expect the event to last about an hour and will feature these speakers: Fr. Joaquin Arriaga of St Lucy Catholic Church in Fowler, Dr. Carlos Perez, chair of the Chicano Latin Studies Department at Fresno State, community member Gloria Hernandez, Leonel Flores of the Union de Ex Braceros y de Inmigrantes in Fresno and Ramirez.

Yrigollen said they are encouraging rally participants to join up with a rally being held in downtown Fresno at 5:30 p.m. He said an organized march from Fresno State is not planned on their part but they expect that some of the rally participants may march on their own to the downtown rally, approximately 8 miles southwest of the campus.

The campus rally is part the annual student-event Sernana de La Raza, a weeklong observance leading up to Cinco de Mayo on Friday.