About Unity
Unity is a series of student-led movements at Santa Clara University spanning from the original UNITY, formed in 1984-1985 to advocate for the creation of the Multicultural Center (MCC), to Unity 4, which in 2015 came together to as a response to racist incidents on campus, including but not limited to abuse on social media platforms (primarily Yik Yak). For an overview of the history of Unity, we recommend the following resources:
Santa Clara University's Multicultural Center Blog - History of Unity - This page on the MCC blog discusses the history of the four Unity movement.
Not a Moment, But a Movement: From a protest in Benson in 1969 to a multi-decade movement called Unity, students of color have consistently pushed SCU toward progress. - This article from Santa Clara Magazine goes over the actions SCU BIPOC students have taken to promote respect and equality on campus. Included in this article is information about the Unity movements.
Because of the overlap between the Unity movement and the creation of the MCC, there may be some overlap of information between this page of our research guide and the MCC page.
A Note on Content
This is not a comprehensive list of all documents and articles relating to UNITY. For information on how to find more documents via our physical archives, please consult our Guide to Archives & Special Collections: Searching. For information on how to search through Digital Collections, please refer to our Guide to Digital Collections or Tips for Searching the Santa Clara student newspaper collection. We are updating this guide on a regular basis to add more information, but recognize that there may be too many articles for one person to find them all. If there is an important article or document you feel should be included, but isn't, please feel free to let us know at specialcollections@scu.edu.
In SCU Digital Collections
While some documents are listed on this page, you can find a complete list of all documents tagged 'UNITY' in our Digital Collections.
Primary Sources Related to UNITY (scanned from the SCU Archives)
The documents in this section are related to the development of the UNITY movements on campus over the years and are arranged chronologically (oldest first). The majority appear to have been created between Unity 1 (the MCC movement) and Unity 2 (involving the Igwebuike open forum). In an early letter, students say they have united to "reconvene the student group UNITY and to address issues of diversity on campus."
We have identified and scanned these documents to expedite access to the materials in the collection related to this important movement, but this is not the full extent of sources available. Schedule an in-person appointment with SpecialCollections@scu.edu to further this inquiry with the physical collections in SCU Archives & Special Collections.
- UNITY! Special BulletinUndated, but probably from spring of 1985. From record group 5DB, Records of the Vice Provost for Student Life, 1920-2009, box 25.
- UNITY/Gonzalves Letter to Locatelli - 03/30/1989Document location - Office of the President-Locatelli 3DB27, Box 7, Accession 992-030, folder titled 'UNITY.'
- Letter from Locatelli to Unity - 04/10/1989Document location - Office of the President-Locatelli 3DB27, Box 7, Accession 992-030, folder titled 'UNITY.'
- Memo from Igwebuike to Locatelli Re: Candidates for Document Task Force - n.d.Undated, but estimated 1989. Document location - Office of the President-Locatelli 3DB27, Box 7, Accession 992-030, folder titled 'UNITY.'
- Notes from UNITY-Locatelli Meeting - 04/14/1989Document location - From Office of the President-Locatelli 3DB27, Box 7, Accession 992-030, folder titled 'UNITY.'
- Post-Meeting Letter from UNITY to Locatelli - 04/18/1989Document location - Office of the President-Locatelli 3DB27, Box 7, Accession 992-030, folder titled 'UNITY.' Please note the physical version of this letter includes an additional three pages which describe racial incidents that happened to students on Santa Clara's campus. These incidents include the use of a racial slur. Interested researchers (including SCU students) can contact SCU Archives & Special Collections at specialcollections@SCU.edu to receive the full document.
- Memo from Locatelli to UNITY - 04/20/1989Document location - From Office of the President-Locatelli 3DB27, Box 7, Accession 992-030, folder titled 'UNITY.'
- Memo from CJB to PLL Re: UNITY Memo - 04/20/1989Document location - From Office of the President-Locatelli 3DB27, Box 7, Accession 992-030, folder titled 'UNITY.'
- Letter from UNITY to Locatelli - 04/30/1989Document location - From Office of the President-Locatelli 3DB27, Box 7, Accession 992-030, folder titled 'UNITY.'
- Letter from Locatelli to UNITY - 05/03/1989Document location - From Office of the President-Locatelli 3DB27, Box 7, Accession 992-030, folder titled 'UNITY.'
- Memo from Provost Fr. Privett, S.J., to Members of the Multicultural Center Programming BoardMay 28, 1999. From record group 5DB, Records of the Vice Provost for Student Life, 1920-2009, box 26, folder Benson Memorial Center Shapell Plan.