Over 100 students, faculty, administrators and alumni gathered Wednesday evening in Hardin Hall to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the hunger strike conducted by Northwestern students advocating for an Asian American Studies Program.
In a series of speeches punctuated with dance and a cappella, speakers not only celebrated the success of the program but challenged the current administration and exhorted students to push for progress on campus.
Celebrating Asian American Studies
Professor Shalini Shankar, director of the Asian American Studies Program, followed an opening video montage by talking about the desire for formal representation that drove students both in 1995 and today to advocate on behalf of Asian American Studies.
"These events stem from a figurative and literal hunger," Shankar said. "Hunger for institutional representation, social representation, inclusion."
Student attendees and organizers echoed the hunger Shanker talks about, arguing that the event and Asian American Studies itself provide a valuable opportunity to present new perspectives and narratives on both historical and current events.
"It's important," said Communication junior and external Asian Pacific American Coalition (APAC) president Theanne Liu. "It's a type of perspective you don't get from taking another kind of class."
Liu compared her experience in Asian American Studies to other courses, using as an example a class she took cross-listed in political science, sociology and gender studies.
"The only time intersectionality came up was during one week," Liu said, comparing that to Asian American Studies, where marginalized perspectives are always at the forefront.
Organizing the event
Weinberg senior Tiffany Chang, a student organizer of the event, said that planning for the event began all the way back in Fall Quarter. She feels that the discussion around Asian American Studies on campus needs to move beyond mundane concerns about grades and enrollment.
"In the past, it was such a political movement," Chang said. "So I wanted to bring [that passion] back."
To that end, organizers of the event not only made an effort to involve students in the event, but also to invite faculty and administrators. Chang explained that this was meant to give administrators an opportunity to demonstrate their support for the Asian American Studies Program and improve the general learning environment at Northwestern instead of just worrying.
"For them to just ignore us, to see this as a waste of time or just some dramatic interpretation, that should really tell you something," Chang said.
Empowering student activism
Speakers emphasized the value of Asian American Studies in helping students play a critical role in transforming their campuses. Alumna Sofia Sami (WCAS '14), who graduated with an ad hoc major in Asian American Studies, said that the safe space offered by the Asian American Studies Program helped her learn "to draw the lines of injustice" and think big in her efforts to disrupt entrenched systems on campus.
"I learned to practice what it meant to disrupt with precision," Sami said.
Dr. Aldon Morris, Leon Forrest Professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies and the first director of the Asian American Studies Program, touched on similar themes during his speech. Morris urged students to remember that the program did not come about because primarily because of action on the part of the administration or faculty.
"It is important to emphasize that the Asian American Studies Program was the product of protests by students," Morris said.
"If it had not been for the students, we would not be here today."
The next step
More than just commemorating the past, though, speakers and attendees felt that this event also spoke to events on modern campuses. Dr. Sumun Pendakur (WCAS '98), associate dean for institutional diversity at Harvey Mudd College and a participant in the hunger strike herself during her freshman year, talked about how her involvement in the strike has affected her current work in diversity and inclusion. Pendakur drew comparisons between the strike for Asian American Studies and current efforts to establish Native American and Indigenous Studies programs across the nation.
"I want to point out that none of this is new and none of this has completely changed," Pendakur said.
Weinberg junior Cinthya Rodriguez, a member of MEChA de Northwestern and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) who performed spoken word as part of the proceedings, said she saw the events of 1995 as strongly relevant to campus activism today.
"I see a prolonged struggle," Rodríguez said. "We're here today as part of that struggle."
The struggle for Asian American Studies has, in fact, returned today. As The Daily Northwestern notes, faculty in the Asian American Studies department intend to submit a proposal to establish an Asian American Studies major.
"Our aim is to submit a proposal during the 2015-2016 calendar year," Dr. Shankar said.
"I think a major program would be a tremendous growth opportunity. For students, this would literally no longer be minor."
