Northwestern students fast for ethnic studies

Northwestern students fast for ethnic studies

By Nancy Hsu

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

On May 25, 1993, five students, a professor and three community
members pitched their tents outside Murphy Hall to protest for the
establishment of a Chicano studies department.

Armed with water bottles, they fasted for 13 days until
activists and administrators compromised by creating the Cesar
Chavez Center for Interdisciplinary Instruction.

Today, the battle for ethnic studies continues. But this time,
the war is over Asian American studies and the battleground is
Northwestern University.

In Evanston, Ill., 10 Northwestern students are into the 16th
day of protest. Their demand: an Asian American studies
inter-departmental program.

Hunger strikers are sheltered under pitched tents by the Rock, a
plaza between three main buildings on the south side of campus. The
original 17 strikers have dropped out from exhaustion, but about 10
different students are taking turns fasting in two- to six- day
shifts.

Charles Chun, who fasted for 12 days, said he did so because he
thinks it’s important for a person to know about their own culture.
Chun, a native of Memphis, Tenn., said he has always felt out of
place.

"I always grew up feeling very different," said Chun, a
third-year psychology and economics student. "Even when I went back
to Korea to visit, I was different because I was so Westernized.
When I took this Student Organized Seminar, I just realized these
experiences weren’t unique to me. I’m as American as everybody
else, but I have an Asian culture."

Any similarities between the strike at Northwestern and the
hunger strike at UCLA two years ago surrounding the creation of a
Chicano studies department are not coincidental, said Eric Salcedo,
who is with the Asian American Advisory Board.

"We thought about a hunger strike when they got Chicano studies
at UCLA," Salcedo said. "We knew about what happened over there,
and we thought that a hunger strike would be our final act. In
terms of garnering support, it’s been really effective."

Since the strike began on April 12, students at Princeton,
Stanford and some mid-east schools have held short-term hunger
strikes in a show of solidarity, Salcedo said.

"I think it’s a really good thing that they’re (fasting)," said
Briseyda Zarate, a second-year history and Chicana/o studies
student at UCLA.

Zarate said she was touched when she heard about the Chicano
studies department strike. At the time, she was a high school
senior.

"All I knew is that people cared enough about it to put their
health on the line," Zarate said. "We have a center now. Everything
they’re implementing, like more classes, are new, but I’m still
very critical of it."

So far, the strike at Northwestern has done little to change the
mind of administrators.

"The administration cannot, and will not, snap its fingers and
give the kids an Asian American studies program," said Kenneth
Wildes, vice president of university relations at Northwestern.
"These programs, like every other program, have to go through a
review. Unless the (students) understand that, they are going to be
a very, very hungry group."

The fight for Asian American studies began three years ago with
a proposal to Lawrence Dumas, College of Letters & Science
dean.

What came out of that proposal was the creation of Student
Organized Seminars. The seminars are pass/no pass courses on the
Asian American experience, taught by students and overseen by
faculty advisers.

However, administrators at Northwestern said it wasn’t until two
months ago when they heard the idea for an Asian American studies
program.

On Feb. 2, the Asian American Advisory Board proposed to
President Henry Bienen the establishment of an interdepartmental
program with five tenured-track faculty and one director, Salcedo
said.

Students claim the proposal was rejected by Bienen, but
administrators said they did not reject anything.

"We never rejected the idea of having an Asian American studies
program," Wildes said. "In fact, it really meshes well with
Northwestern’s evolving interest in Asian American studies."

Administrators at Northwestern have pledged to offer four
courses in the Asian American experience and culture while they
explore the notion of a program. Dumas has also committed to a
visitor’s series which would bring experts in different areas to
lecture on campus, Wildes said.

However, students say the courses offer no permanence and are
not a commitment to a program.

With an 18 percent Asian American student body, having an Asian
American studies program makes sense, Salcedo said.

"Some people say, ‘You speak English really well,’" Salcedo
said. "They don’t realize Asian Americans built this country for
the past 150 years."