[Note: The following is an open letter to the Oberlin community.]
To the Editor:
On February 6, 1996, students of color at Columbia University occupied the office of the Columbia college Dean, demanding ethnic Studies (specifically, the development of Asian American Studies and Latino/Latina Studies), as well as fundamental changes in the institution's Eurocentric core curriculum. After a three-hour occupation, Columbia administrators grudgingly agreed to meet with the students. A candle light vigil attended by over 200 students, as well as supporters including renowned activist Yuri Kochiyama, was held that evening in support of the struggle. NBC's channel 4 news covered the event. Because of Columbia's subsequent lack of commitment to the implementation of Ethnic Studies, students, as of 8 a.m. April 1, 1996 began a HUNGER STRIKE in protest. By day three of the hunger strike, support began to pour in from students at other universities, including Cornell, Yale and City College of New York. The New York Times , WBAI, WLIB, New York 1 news, Telemundo, and Korean TV have all provided coverage of the students' protests. By day four of the hunger strike 200 students blocked traffic on Broadway, rallying for Ethnic studies. One student was hospitalized. As of Wednesday night, the latest available report said that over 100 students, facing harassment by Columbia security and threats of expulsion and of NYPD intervention, had occupied the administrative offices at Low Library; Columbia President George Rupp continued to refuse to open negotiations. The situation is continuing to develop at a rapid pace.
This week, flyers titled "In the Name of Solidarity" were posted by Asian American Studies student committee members in an attempt to gather mass support for Columbia University students in struggle for Ethnic Studies/Asian American Studies/Latino/Latina Studies. Please read these flyers, and send your messages in support of the Columbia administration, as well as to the student activists who have bravely committed themselves to the struggles there. Here at Oberlin, the speak-out/teach-in and massive campaigning for Asian American Studies last November and events such as the biennial Asian Pacific American conference last March have marked the 25th anniversary of Oberlin Asian American Studies activism. The twenty-fifth year of protest is passing by and still Oberlin has not committed to permanent solutions for the implementation of Asian American Studies. As in the case of Columbia, Northwestern, Princeton, Yale, UPenn, City College of New York and many other academic institutions, students have received responses from administration and faculty; however, no long term commitment has been made for the betterment of the academy's curriculum through the inclusion of ALL Americans' history and contemporary issues.
All across the nation, the call for Ethnic Studies, unabated over the three decades has been renewed by a new generation of committed students, demanding the right to be educated in a manner that is relevant to the changing society in which they live. Asian American and Latino/Latina Studies, issues that may have seemed to be merely a matter of justice and principle in the Midwest in the late '60s and early '70s, have become necessities for political and social survival at the close of the century. The rapid changes in this country's demographics require a new vision of a multicultural society - as the explosion of Los Angeles in 1992, in what Peter Kwong has termed "the first multicultural riots" (Latino/Latina, Asian, Black and white), has testified. We, students of Oberlin College, members of the Asian American community, support the nationwide movement for Asian American and Latino/Latina Studies.
[Note: Eight other members of the Student Committee also signed this letter.]
Copyright © 1996, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 124, Number 20; April 12, 1996
Contact Review webmaster with suggestions or comments at ocreview@www.oberlin.edu.
Contact Review editorial staff at oreview@oberlin.edu.