By Bay City News
After epitaphs defaced the hallowed halls of Stanford, students decided to take action. The racist graffiti — which included the statements, “Rape all Asian b*tches” and “Nuke Hiroshima” — was discovered scrawled on the walls of Stanford University’s History Corner and the Center for East Asian American Studies last month over spring break.
Most cultures were well represented at the April 19 afternoon rally against hate crimes held on the school campus. Students said the university’s response to the graffiti was a two-paragraph letter to the editor of the Stanford Daily campus newspaper. They are angered that a university, which prides itself on diversity, did not take more assertive action against the crimes. In fact, many students said they felt more threatened by the lack of response from the administration than the bigoted messages themselves.
But some students said they aren’t trying to start a war between themselves and the administration.
“We’re not totally against the administration, we’re just showing our concern,” said Andrew Jhun of the Humanities and Education Action Team, admitting that he is impressed with some of what the university has done so far. “We want to remind the university that this stuff really does happen. We want to push them further. The question is, how far are they willing to go? Are they here to act, or are they here to react?”
Sign-carrying student Rohan Radhakrishna said the powers that be need to educate students about diversity. “It’s time for more openness and respect,” he said, and that can only be achieved through education.
The students aren’t the only ones who want cultural understanding.
“I’m here because the administration feels strongly about this issue, and the president does, too,” said Julie Lythcott-Haims, assistant to Stanford President John Hennessy. “These acts are despicable and we want to do everything we can to find out who did this.” Lythcott-Haims denied that the administration failed to address the issue of the hate crimes.
“The university feels it has adequately responded [to the situation],” she said. “Racism can’t be eradicated in a day. All we have control over is the response.”
Victor Hwang, an attorney with San Francisco’s Asian Law Caucus, has conducted a study on the violence against Asian Americans. During that study, he said, he learned that Stanford has the top protocol to deal with hate crimes. “But it’s secret,” he said, as university officials will not share the details publically.
While Asian Americans most certainly weren’t the only culture to be attacked through last month’s incidents, Hwang is particularly concerned about the group now, in light of recent events involving the U.S. and China.
“This China bashing that’s going on now turns into Asian American bashing because people can’t separate the two,” he said.
But, Hwang doesn’t fault the university too harshly for its response to the recent graffiti. “[They] just didn’t know how to respond. They think if they ignore it, it will go away.” |
