Six years ago, 17 students began a 23-day hunger strike in an effort to force administrators into creating an Asian-American studies program.
And Monday night, as the program prepares to graduate its first two minors, about 60 students, faculty and alumni remembered the sacrifices their predecessors made by watching a documentary of the strike.
The documentary screening kicked off Asian-American Heritage Month and came just as Northwestern plans to expand the studies program by searching for a third Asian-American studies professor and an Asian-American outreach coordinator.
The issues were first brought up at NU in 1991, when members of the Asian American Advisory Board called for an Asian-American studies coordinator similar to what will be implemented soon at NU. The then-vice president for student affairs rejected the proposal.
AAAB renewed their requests in 1995, drafting a proposal for an Asian-American studies program. When administrators said they would take two years to respond, AAAB decided to go ahead with a hunger strike.
Leaders in AAAB were divided from the start over whether the strike was appropriate, said Eric Salcedo, who participated in the protest for its first eight days.
“Some thought it was more appropriate for (protesting) human rights violations,” said Salcedo, Weinberg ’99.
AAAB leaders considered blocking Sheridan Road or sitting in at the Bursar’s Office, which students did to get an African-American studies program in the 1970s. But after talking to administrators, they decided against it.
“They told us, flat out, that we would have gotten arrested if we had done those things,” said Rob Yap, AAAB president from 1993 to 1995.
Instead, students stuck to the hunger strike and camped out in tents in front of The Rock. Seventeen students started the strike, living on only water for the first three days and then adding juice mixed with protein shakes to their diet.
Salcedo said he became partial to V8 juice during the protest.
“It was a five-course meal,” he said. “I would drink V8 for dinner and have juice as a snack during the day.”
But Susan Yu, AAAB president from 1996 to 1997, said she didn’t know she was allowed to drink juice until the fifth day of the strike.
“You pee a lot (if you drink only water),” said Yu, Weinberg ’97. “Every hour.”
After the first week, strikers started rotating on every two or three days. Lack of food drained the leaders and made it difficult for them to focus on planning the next steps in the protest.
“It’s hard for you to articulate what you think should be the next step (when you’re hunger striking),” Salcedo said.
But some students thought the hunger strike lost credibility with rotating strikers, which was one reason why striker Charles Chun continued the strike through all 23 days. The documentary mostly focused on Chun, Weinberg ’96, as he continued his plea.
“I kind of feel like I have to stay on it to lend it a small credibility,” Chun said on the ninth day.
While many student groups supported the strikers, not all groups understood the cause. The Conservative Coalition handed out free pizza near The Rock during the second day of the strike.
The strike ended after 23 days because strikers became busy with midterms and projects. As an end to the strike, students stood in silence to protest the inauguration of University President Henry Bienen.
Since then, the Asian-American studies program has made strides by hiring two professors and creating a minor, which currently has enrolled 22 students. But the work is far from over, said Ji-Yeon Yuh, an assistant history professor who came to NU in 1999.
“There’s a limit to how many courses a professor can teach,” Yuh said. “We really need to have another. (Also), the students have to really support the program, come out for its courses, come to program events.”
But the strides the program has made are encouraging, the strikers said.
“To see 22 minors, it kind of makes you feel what you did was worthwhile,” Salcedo said.
