Update on Tufts’ Response

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Update on Tufts’ Response to On Campus 04.09.09 Hate Incident

In response to the 04.09.09 hate incident against the students of the Korean Students Association at Tufts University, approximately 200 of its students and faculty members rallied in front of the Tisch Library on campus on April 16, 2009. The main purposes of the rally was to shed light on the recent hate incident, as well as the history of Anti-Asian American sentiments that occur on college campuses that have frequently been rendered invisible. A petition addressed to the senior administration and the president demanded the following: 1) Increase Asian American, which should not be conflated with Asian, experiences within the Tufts curriculum, 2) Have mandatory student and faculty diversity training that will include Asian American experiences, 3) A transparent protocol that will immediately address acts of racial discrimination on campus, and 4) Public denouncement by the chief administrative officer, namely the president of the university, of acts of racial discrimination and intolerance, while offering resources to students who are victims of such incidents. This petition is still available for students and concerned members of the community to sign online. Several Asian American students and faculty, as well as their allies, spoke at the event.

A day after the hate incident occurred, a campus wide email sent from the Dean of Students indicated that the incident is under investigation. It has been two weeks and there have not been any further response or updates from the administration. Meanwhile, there have been several institutions outside the university that have emailed or sent correspondence to members of the senior administration demanding a need for action or a public statement, but to no avail. The incident has received media attention, still there has not been any response from the administration. The lack of leadership from the administration on taking a public stance on this incident has allowed a significant number of comments to be posted on the website of the institution’s student newspaper that further target and attack victims of this incident and their allies. While the administration may not be able to comment on the immediate case, broader issues regarding the overall campus climate and Tufts’ intolerance of hate have not been addressed. Students who have been deeply hurt by the incident have received no outreach or support from the administration and are further hurt by the lack of acknowledgment on the part of the administration of the occurrence and traumatizing effects of the incident. We urge individuals and organizations, Asian Americans and their allies, who support us during this time to email President Bacow (larry.bacow@tufts.edu) to express your outrage at his level of inaction.

For more information, contact +16174609916, rsiy01@gmail.com or +14012066938, jenny.lau@tufts.edu