SPORTS Lacrosse Offensive leader Erin Fitzgerald wears her heart on her sleeve » PAGE 8
Anti-violence advocates come to campus » PAGE 3
OPINION Watters Yahoo, Tumblr may be odd match » PAGE 4
High 69 Low 52
The Daily Northwestern Wednesday, May 22, 2013
DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM
Find us online @thedailynu
Fighting ‘fresh off the boat’ Speakers tackle stereotype, celebrate heritage By AMY WHYTE
the daily northwestern @amywhyteNU
Melody Song/Daily Senior Staffer
REFLECTIONS ON RACE AJ Aguado (Weinberg ‘10) delivers a spoken-word poem Tuesday at Norris University Center. The event featured Asian American studies faculty and alumni who spoke about Asian-Americans in society.
Speakers challenged the meaning of the phrase “fresh off the boat” at an event Tuesday hosted by the Asian American studies program. “Fresh Off the Boat: Reflections on an Asian American Life Beyond Northwestern” was organized in celebration of Asian American Heritage Month. Carolyn Chen, director of Asian American studies, said the goal of the event was to subvert the meaning of the off-color phrase and give what she characterized as a “derogatory, offensive term” a positive spin. “It’s a term that’s been really divisive within the Asian-American community,” Chen said. “Americanborn Asians don’t want to be confused with being FOB. There’s an experience of being perceived as being an outsider and I think it’s one that we all face.” University President Morton Schapiro also attended the event, and Chen and some students joined him for dinner at his home afterward. Chen gave Schapiro honorary Asian-American status for the day, joking that his original name was “Shu-pih Roh.” In December, when The New York Times published an op-ed written by Chen, Schapiro met with her to discuss the disadvantages AsianAmericans face during the selective
college admissions process. “I don’t think that there’s a real worry that we have higher standards,” Schapiro told The Daily in February. “I think the worry is whether Asian-Americans enjoy this place and avail this place the way non-Asians do.” Tuesday’s event featured speeches by two of the program’s former students, AJ There’s an Aguado experience of (Communi‘10) being perceived cation and Joseph as being an Lee (Weinberg ‘09), outsider, and and Nitasha I think it’s one Sharma, an that we all face. Asian American studies Carolyn Chen, and African director of Asian American American studies studies prof e s s or. A brief Q-and-A followed. “We wanted to have fun and celebrate who we are as Asian-Americans in a way that was more critically engaging than just having an ethnic dance or eating ethnic food,” Chen said. Aguado, who was an ad hoc Asian American studies major at NU, emphasized the importance of remembering history and staying true to one’s heritage. He told anecdotes of growing up as an Asian-American and making fun of
“
his cousin, a first-generation immigrant, for his broken English. He said he always considered himself an American, and he did not think about his Asian heritage until later in life. “We become so Americanized as we try to assimilate into society that we forget our roots,” Aguado said. Aguado was followed by Sharma, who broke down what the Asian American studies program is and why it is important into three main points: Asian American studies is not just the study of Asian-Americans, Asian-Americans “do not have small d--k complex” and Asian-Americans do not follow the stereotype of the “model minority.” “People stereotype Asian-Americans as having a dogged focus on getting good grades, getting into a good college and having a good career,” Sharma said. “Asian-Americans have never lived within the restrictions of the model minority. ...We have to stop holding ourselves to such unrealistic standards.” The final speaker, Lee, was an Asian American studies minor at NU who is now attending medical school after participating in Teach for America. He talked about his struggles as an Asian-American and the turning points that led him to accept his culture. “It took me a really, really long time to figure out who I was,” Lee said. “I remember I’d wake up » See HERITAGE MONTH, page 7
NU group serves City residents learn their rights dinner in the dark By JOSEPH DIEBOLD
daily senior staffer @josephdiebold
By LYDIA RAMSEY
daily senior staffer @lydiaramsey125
When students entered one by one Tuesday into the Jerome B. Cohen Commons in Technological Institute, they were met with a meal in complete darkness. Northwestern’s chapter of Unite For Sight, an organization that raises money to support sight-restoring surgeries, hosted the sold-out event, called “Dining in the Dark.” The group fed 32 students as a fundraiser for surgeries in Ghana, Honduras and India. “It only costs $50 to do the surgery,” UFS co-president Holly Romaniak said. “That’s why one of our main objectives is raising the funds, so we can send it abroad.” Romaniak, a Weinberg junior, started the on-campus UFS chapter last year with a Foster-Walker Complex suite mate. The group’s goal is to raise $750 each academic year through bimonthly fundraisers to send to an eye clinic for sight-restoring surgeries, predominantly cataract removal procedures. The $50 covers the cost of surgery, as well as follow-up care. The national group also helps fund examinations and other basic eye care services.
Most of the fundraisers hosted by UFS are bake sales and other small events, Romaniak said. Other programming by the group included a screening of the documentary “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide” earlier this month. Romaniak It only costs s ai d this meal was the $50 to do the first big event surgery. That’s the group has hosted — and why one of our the most suc- main objectives cessful one so is raising the far. Romaniak funds, so we said the idea can send it for “Dining in the abroad Dark” came f rom t he Holly Romaniak, UFS co-president UFS chapter at Carnegie Mellon University. At its blind meal, however, that group only served food from Panera Bread. “We wanted to up the ante,” Romaniak said. The dinner at NU cost $8 per person with food donated from local restaurants including Mt. Everest, Buffalo
“
» See DINING, page 7
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
Days after the Evanston Police Department announced it will increase its presence in the 5th Ward, an advocacy group hosted an event Tuesday to educate citizens about their rights when encountering officers. The Citizens Network of Protection brought about 10 Evanston residents to the Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center, 1655 Foster St., for a film screening and question-and-answer session with Benjamin Wolf, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. The film, “10 Rules for Dealing With Police,” was produced by Flex Your Rights, a nonprofit that aims to improve constitutional literacy so citizens, especially those who have not actually committed a crime, know their rights. Among other “rules,” the film advised citizens to be polite with officers, to refuse warrantless searches and to clarify whether they have been detained for purposes of searches. “You can always ask if you’re detained or if you’re free to leave,” Wolf said. “The movie does a good job of explaining how to do that respectfully so that you don’t pick a fight with an officer.” During the Q-and-A, citizens asked about protecting their children from truancy and curfew laws.
Joseph Diebold/Daily Senior Staffer
‘STAY CALM, DON’T RUN’ Benjamin Wolf, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, talks Tuesday night to Evanston residents about their rights when dealing with police officers.
Wolf said he and the ACLU have been fighting to stop racial profiling by police both in the area and around the country. “It’s a problem in Evanston, and it’s a problem in Illinois,” he said. He also praised the film for emphasizing that citizens do not need to consent to a search after routine traffic stops, saying it is a situation commonly associated with racial profiling. The screening came on the heels of an announcement last week by Evanston Police Chief Richard Eddington at a 5th Ward meeting that the city may
up its use of stop-and-frisk tactics because of escalating gun violence in the ward, including a shooting in broad daylight that sent the community center into lockdown. CNP organizer Betty Ester said when EPD made a similar announcement several years ago, it did not result in a significant change, but her organization will remain vigilant. “That’s something we don’t need to see,” she said. “Now they’re talking about the ‘zero tolerance,’ so we definitely do have concerns, and we will » See POLICE, page 7
INSIDE Around Town 2 | On Campus 3 | Opinion 4 | Classifieds & Puzzles 6 | Sports 8