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The Daily Northwestern DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
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20 years later, faculty to call for major Fight for Asian-American studies continues on hunger strike anniversary By BENJAMIN DIN
daily senior staffer @benjamindin
Twenty years after a hunger strike to establish the Asian American Studies Program shook Northwestern’s campus, the program’s faculty plans to submit a proposal to establish an Asian-American studies major. History Prof. Ji-Yeon Yuh, the first hire for the Asian American Studies Program in 1999, said faculty will submit a proposal before the end of 2015 to create a major. In 1995, students became frustrated with the administration’s lukewarm response to a proposal to
establish the program and began a hunger strike in protest. The 200page proposal included letters of faculty support and more than 1,200 student signatures. The hunger strike ended after 23 days when the students realized the administration did not have immediate plans to establish an Asian-American studies program. The University established the program four years later. To this day, the program has only a minor, although students repeatedly asked for a major. Even though the drive to create the program helped pave the way for other ethnic studies programs at NU, other attempts have faced similar administrative roadblocks.
‘Do you think I’m going to stay quiet?’ In a paper for an NU class, David Hish (Communication ‘95) recalled he jokingly suggested in 1994, “We should all go on a hunger strike and chain ourselves to the clock tower,” if the administration rejected a proposal from the Asian American Advisory Board for an Asian-American studies program. The student group submitted the proposal in February 1995. About two weeks later, then-University President Henry Bienen issued a statement thanking AAAB for bringing the issue to his attention, saying he would direct the suggestion to a curriculum committee, but would not pledge to the
establishment of an Asian-American studies program. Before the 1995 proposal, members of AAAB said they had also submitted multiple proposals beginning in 1991 for an Asian-American studies adviser. Hish had no idea a comment he made in passing would become a reality, he told The Daily last month. On April 12, 1995, 17 students began a hunger strike after the administration did not satisfy AAAB’s demands. At an opening rally, then-AAAB chair Grace Lou (SESP ‘96) challenged Bienen to address the strikers’ requests. “Come on out,” Lou shouted outside Hardin Hall, The Daily reported in 1995. “Do you think I’m going to stay quiet? I want you to look me straight in the eyes
and tell me Asian-American studies doesn’t matter.” Strikers wore yellow armbands and camped out at The Rock. Students took vitamins and drank liquids for sustenance during the strike, said Michael Yap, one of the original hunger strikers. Yap, who graduated from the University of Chicago in 1994, is the brother of a former AAAB chair Rob Yap (Weinberg ‘95), who was also involved in the protest. The Daily reported that on the second day of the strike members of the Conservative Council, a right-wing student group, mocked the hunger strikers by passing out pizzas near the strikers’ tents. » See STRIKE, page 6
Graphic by Jacob Swan/The Daily Northwestern
Dillo Day noise fixes announced By Julia Jacobs
the daily northwestern @juliarebeccaj
Mayfest representatives introduced their solutions to last year’s Dillo Day noise complaints at a community meeting Tuesday, including reorienting the stage to face east toward Lake Michigan and new speaker technology that prevents music from leaking past festival boundaries. The meeting, held at The Family Institute, 618 Library Place, allowed for conversation between campus and city officials as well as students and a dozen Evanston residents about issues like Dillo Day that affect the entire city. Mayfest co-chair Justin Wolf, a Communication senior, said the new speaker technology came with a significant price but should help remedy the noise pollution problem, for which University President Morton Schapiro publicly apologized last year. “We’re hoping that this technology combined with the reorientation of the stage to where it was two years ago
will address most sound issues that we encountered last year,” Wolf said. In addition to limiting student guests, this year Mayfest has reduced the available number of wristbands to Evanston residents and added a price of $25 for each. Because students already contribute to Dillo Day through tuition, the new fee for residents levels the playing field, Wolf said. Mayfest worked with Evanston police and fire departments to determine festival capacity based on the new layout as well as safety recommendations, said Tony Kirchmeier, director of off-campus life. That number helped determine the number of available wristbands for Evanston residents, who must be over 19 to attend or else be accompanied by an adult over age 25. Outside of the festival boundaries, the Evanston Police Department is still deciding how it will treat Dillo Day parties on properties that have been cited for violations in the past year, said EPD Officer Scott Sengenberger. One » See CONVERSATIONS, page 7
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Author discusses writing fiction By Madeline fox
the daily northwestern @Madelinefox14
Author Maaza Mengiste spoke about the impetus behind her book, “Beneath the Lion’s Gaze,” and the challenges of writing historical fiction at a Thursday night lecture hosted by the Center for the Writing Arts. The novel by Mengiste, the center’s Visiting Writer in Residence for Spring Quarter, was named one of the 10 best contemporary African books by The Guardian. It takes place during the Ethiopian revolution beginning in 1974, when the Armed Forces Coordinating Committee took over state power, toppling the monarchy of Haile Selassie. “This book sprang from the silences that were in my family, that were in my community, that still exist amongst my friends, of what happened in Ethiopia during the revolution,” said the Ethiopian-born author. “We know the historical facts of it, but when it came down to the personal stories and personal experiences, there was a wall in my home, and there was a shut door with friends.” Mengiste told an audience of about 15 students and faculty members the story emerged out of a short story she submitted
to be workshopped at her creative writing masters program at New York University, where she said she was surprised to be confronted with an audience that knew nothing about the revolution. “I said, ‘Oh my God, how do I convey to them the way I feel it, how do I convey the almost half a million dead or unaccounted for?’” Mengiste recalled. “Can fiction really carry the weight of those lives and that kind of a tragedy?”
Mengiste’s talk followed a reading of her work on April 15 and a tea with members of residential colleges last week, all events the Visiting Writer in Residence holds each quarter, said Reginald Gibbons, the director of the center. “It’s very useful for undergraduate creative writing students to be able to study for a quarter with someone whose » See MENGISTE, page 7
Sophie Mann/The Daily Northwestern
Recounting History Author Maaza Mengiste talks about her novel and the difficulties of writing historical fiction Thursday night. Mengiste, who wrote the award-winning novel “Beneath the Lion’s Gaze,” is the Center for the Writing Arts’ spring Visiting Writer in Residence.
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