On April 12, 1995, 17 Northwestern students began a 12-day hunger strike to demand an Asian American Studies Program. The eventual result of the strike – the Asian American Studies program – will celebrate its 10th anniversary Friday.
After years of proposals and no results, on April 12, 1995 members of the Asian-American Advisory Board staged a protest at the Rebecca Crown Center, marching to the doors of the office of then-University President Henry Bienen and demanding change. That day, 17 NU students declared themselves on a hunger strike and set up tents at the Rock. Nearly 60 students fasted at one point during the hunger strike, organizers estimated at the time. The longest striker lasted for 12 days without food.
Similar protests were happening at universities across the country, including Brown and Princeton universities, said Jinah Kim, assistant director of the NU Asian American Studies program. She participated in a similar strike as an undergraduate at Columbia University.
The Asian American Studies program was finally established four years after the NU students’ hunger strike, in 1999, and is now celebrating its 10-year anniversary. The program’s long-term success, Kim said, makes it an anomaly among other ethnic studies programs. The one she protested for at Columbia failed early on, she said.
“We recognize how precious and important it is,” she said. “One of the things that’s really exciting about our unique beginnings in student activism is that students continue to be closely tied with the program.”
The Asian American Studies program began with two core faculty members and six classes, Kim said. Today, it has four core faculty members and 20 course offerings. This quarter, Kim said, the program offered three classes, with a total enrollment of approximately 140 students.
Weinberg and Bienen sophomore Calvin Lee said the establishment of the Asian American Studies program at NU is a recognition of the social, political and educational importance of learning Asian history.
“It serves as a wonderful way for Asian students to understand themselves,” Lee said. “With that understanding comes standing up for yourself.”
Lee is the programming chair of the Asian Pacific American Coalition, which was born out of AAAB. He said a schism developed within AAAB after the strikes of the mid-1990s.
“People wanted to go different directions,” Lee said. “Some wanted to educate NU on Asian culture and some wanted to concentrate on the social-political aspects at NU.”
APAC, he said, supported a focus on the social-political aspects of Asians student life. Student groups such as Kaibigan and South Asian Student Alliance, he said, opted for a cultural focus.
Lee, who is Chinese, said his culture frowns on political participation. His parents are unhappy he is involved with APAC.
He said the forum APAC held on Oct. 27, to discuss the alleged racial harassment of NU Police Department officer Freddie Lee, exemplified the Asian community’s lack of cohesion, especially compared to other minority groups on campus.
“In my mind, I’m comparing the (APAC) forum to the sheer size of the blackface forum,” he said. “It’s something I admire of For Members Only. I wish the Asian community could emulate that.”
Weinberg junior Jaspreet Banga said she is unsure if it is necessary for the Asian community to be that tight-knit. In the 1990s, she said, the community bonded over its struggle for an academic program. Now, NU has one.
“In any time of need, I could say confidently we’d come together,” she said.
Banga, co-president of SASA, said the 10-year anniversary of the Asian American Studies program has exposed her to more of the history of Asian activism on campus. She has taken some classes in the Asian American Studies program and plans to take more.In terms of the program’s future, Kim said holes need to be filled in the faculty, particularly in the political science and economics fields. Still, she said the program’s survival is impressive.
The program will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary with a half-day conference Friday. Panels will be held from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Big Ten Room in Norris University Center, with a reception in the Lake Room immediately following.
Kim said one of the biggest anniversary events will take place in April, when the Asian American Studies program and APAC bring back the hunger strikers of 1995.
“These are not just events, but a rallying point,” Lee said. “We need to develop a stronger sense of community.”
