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UC Davis Asian Students Take On White-Asian violence
By Michael Liu
The source for this information was published in the Nichi Bei
Times. Yukiya Jerry Waki is a staff writer at Nichi Bei Times. Visit
the Nichi Bei
Times web site for more information on UC Davis.
After months of conflict, 300 Asian-American students and supporters , held a protest in front of the administration building against recent confrontations with white students at the University of California, Davis.
Many of those involved in the fights belong to campus fraternities. Problems began in October when members of a white UC Davis fraternity intimidated Asian sorority members of Cal State Sacramento as the two groups attempted to arrange rocks into messages at the Yolo Causeway levee, a traditional student activity.
Conflict
The same month, Korean-American and white youths, including some UC Davis students, had a confrontation in the parking lot of the Arlington Farms apartment complex on Portage Bay Drive in Davis, Later, about a dozen white students -- some from Kappa Sigma fraternity, a fraternity that has had repeated campus policy violations -- invaded an off-campus apartment where they attacked the five Asian American occupants -- members of Sigma Kappa Rho fraternity – and ransacked the apartment. The occupants fought back with a bat and samurai-style sword. "There were about three guys for every one of us," one victim reported to the papers. "One guy held me down while the other two beat me. They were saying 'we're going to get you chinks.'"
Two white youths from Kappa Sigma were later arrested on hate-crime charges. Kappa Sigma, formed in the 1984, has been in trouble with the university since 1998 for noise and alcohol violations.
In December, police were called again when seventy members from the fraternities -- as well as two other Asian American fraternities -- brawled at again at the levee.
Adding to the tension last month, Kappa Sigma member Andrew Wieman, 20, was found dead in his room at the on-campus fraternity with several deep slashes to his neck, chest and wrist, with a note nearby. Campus officials and fraternity members said Wieman's death is not related to the previous conflicts, but police have called Wieman's death suspicious.
Administrators have tried to deal with the situation by organizing a mediation meeting between members of competing fraternities and distributed an open letter. They have also met with Asian American student leaders. Asian American students are demanding mandatory diversity training for students and faculty; a coordinator to work with hate-crimes victims; more Asian language and culture classes and funding; and creation of an Asian-American student center.
End the Harassment
Julienne Kwong, a 20-year-old sociology major and a member of the university's Council for Asian Pacific American Affairs, has said the administration's action was ``not enough, not when victims don't feel they have anybody to turn to when they feel threatened.''
At the protest march Thursday, Victor Hwang, from the Asian Law Caucus said: "They're telling you it was an isolated incident, that it was alcohol and a couple of bad apples. When they tell you this is an isolated incident, I tell you that is a lie."
"Enough incidents involving Asian Americans in the past few weeks says there is something very wrong on this campus," said protester Kent Ono, a student of Asian American studies.
Eleven of the 28 fraternities on campus are ethnically oriented. Forty three percent of the undergraduates are white, while 35% are Asian Pacific Islander. UC Davis was the university where Bakke filed a suit against affirmative action, leading to the wave, continuing today, of reversing such programs.
