GUEST COLUMN: "It Worked For Me -- Go Ahead, Make Some Waves!"
Hey, it's finally happened. The Department of Oriental Studies will become the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies on July 1. I remember back in the spring of 1989 when I wanted to change two things about the department: its name, and the lack of Asian faculty. I've suceeded in the first goal -- along with the help of lots of others -- and I imagine that the second goal can't be far behind. To those of you who said that I couldn't do it, that I shouldn't be making waves -- Fuck You. I'm a person who tends to look at the big picture, who looks for basic overriding themes in any given situation. The one that strikes me most in this situation: Students should take a very active role in their own educations. Way back when, I privately wondered why the Latino community didn't fight for a whole program or major of their own. When I spoke to a few involved people one-on-one, they explained that they wanted to start small -- such as obtaining a Latin American Studies minor -- gain a toehold and then move from there. Yeah, well, now Dain Borges has been dissed for tenure, other Latino professors are disenchanted, there may be no one left to teach the classes, the minor might even fall apart, and who will lose? Not just the Latino community, but everyone at Penn. In the fall of 1990, Johnny Kwan and Pam Gee were heading a Students for Asian Affairs committee -- one of the zillions, but more on that some other time -- to implement an Asian-American Studies course. I privately suggested to both of them that it would be better to go for more -- a major, program, whatever -- but they insisted on starting small. Humph. Classic subservient Asian thinking. OK, now we've got AmCiv 222/223. I'm happy we finally have a class, but look at it more closely. The course is in a department that's dead broke and might be dismantled, and the professor is imported from Bryn Mawr. See the light, folks? There's nothing to keep this lone course alive, especially given Penn's current budget. The more fundamental problems of not having a permanent program and Penn's sorry lack of Asian professors are totally bypassed. Here's the bottom line: it's good that students are beginning to take an active role in their own educations, and I'm happy that I could be a big part of it. But the effort is wasted if students are short-sighted. All students, undergrad and grad, are at a disadvantage when dealing with faculty and administration. We're only at Penn for a few years and our main job is not to take care of administrative tasks, but to learn. That -- and when you're a senior like me -- party. On the other hand, administrators and tenured professors are here at Penn for much longer than any student. These guys can afford to stall, buck and dick you over. So don't give me this shit about working within the system, taking things slowly and not making waves. The system does not allow students to change things quickly, so why should we play by the rules? Here's a good example. In 1990, I told everyone that Sheldon Hackney's charge about changing Locust Walk was a smokescreen, and if we as students didn't press the issue to the wall, nothing would happen. I was labelled a cynic by the students who sat on the Locust Walk Committee. They said that they would cooperate with the administration and make changes. They cooperated so well that nothing happened. Well, anyway, good luck to all future student leaders, and I hope all of you show more brains and chutzpah than the wimps we've seen this year. In all the John Shu hoopla over the past few years, a lot of people who ought to be recognized in the Oriental Studies fight have not been. Some of them you may not know, but they all had a powerful effect on Penn. So, in no particular order: Dan Singer, David Kaufman, Val Cade, Danny Altman, Duchess Harris, Brent Mitchell, Daryl Tom, Sean Lew, Roz Evans, Al Green, Phyllis Dennis and Michael Goldstein. Thanks a lot everybody, for all of your help and support -- across the board, we've made a real difference for Penn. And finally, thanks to my long-time roommate Todd Gunther, who stood by me all of these years and even fielded a phone call from a loser fraternity brother who threatened to "put a brick" through our High Rise North window last year. (Some feat, considering we were on the 20th floor.) Todd, you're the best. John Shu is a "Biological and Sociological Factors in Health Care" individualized major and a former Daily Pennsylvanian columnist from Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He is also a senior, and just might graduate in 40-some-odd days.