After the theme of this year’s Revelle College semiformal
was revealed to be “Eastern Elegance: A Night in the Orient,” the Semiformal
Committee and Revelle College Council have been criticized for approving and
funding the event, which some student groups have labeled offensive and
culturally insensitive.
After months of brainstorming, the Semiformal Committee
planned for an Asian theme this year, complete with fans, silk cherry blossom
decorations, a performance by UCSD’s Japanese drumming group Asayake Taiko and
chopstick party favors.
Three weeks ago, RCC approved nearly $7,000 of partial
funding to the event without any discussion of how the dance theme might be
received. The event made its debut on Facebook a week later and has since
received so much criticism that the details of the event — including the theme
— were removed by the committee co-chairs shortly after.
The controversial term “Orient” was popularly used in the
age of colonialism to refer to places and people in East Asia in relation to
Europe, and is considered a Eurocentric
term within some Asian communities.
However, “Orient” has been a problematic term for the
committee because it is not considered universally objectionable. Many Asian
Americans on Revelle’s Semiformal Committee and college council said they do
not find the word offensive.
“We personally were not offended by the semiformal theme,
but now recognize that there are members of the UCSD community who feel
differently,” Revelle Semiformal Committee co-Advisers Janice Lew and Erica
Okamura said in an e-mail. “In no way was there any intention to offend
anyone.”
However, Cathlene Yapyuco, a
Marshall
alumna and staff member at the Cross-Cultural Center, said she was particularly
shocked when she noticed the event on Facebook.
“Even though I know that Asian-American issues are still
very much invisible these days, it was still surprising to hear that the word
‘Orient’ was used in a title of a dance,” said Yapyuco, a former A.S.
councilmember. “It was even more upsetting to see on the Facebook page where
the term ‘ghetto geisha’ was used to advertise the event.”
Yapyuco was not the only person to express surprise at the
event’s approval.
“What bothered me the most [is] that it has been approved by
and that no one ever thought that other people might find it offensive,” said
Thurgood Marshall senior Junie Chea, a member of the Asian Pacific Islander
Student Alliance and
for Education and Service.
A coalition of students arrived at the RCC meeting on Feb. 5
to share their feelings about the Asian-themed dance.
In addition to problems with the dance’s name, members of
the public pointed out that the decorations and food do not showcase an
accurate representation of the diversity within Asian cultures. Instead,
students felt that the cultures represented were primarily Chinese and
Japanese, despite the fact that “Asian” and “Orient” are terms that encompass a
multitude of distinct cultures and ethnicities.
Many present at the meeting suggested that the root of the
problem lies predominantly in the lack of awareness of Asian Pacific-Islander
history, which if known, would have prevented the creation of a social event
that upset many within UCSD’s API community.
“The fact that such a large amount of people let this bypass
them, without knowing that it was a harmful statement, shows that maybe we
aren’t as culturally aware as we’d like to think,” Revelle Semiformal Committee
co-Chair Alicia Zuniga said.
At the same meeting, the co-chairs of the Revelle Semiformal
Committee produced a formal apology to the Asian Pacific-Islander and UCSD
communities.
“We picked an Asian-style theme because we felt that the
cultural aspects were beautiful and should be shared with the Revelle
community,” co-Chair Allison Potter said. “If anyone had mentioned that the
theme or title could be offensive in any way we would have discussed the matter
and stricken any elements that would be offensive. We were truly unaware of
this.”
The following day, Revelle College Senator Sonia Chokshi
sent an apologetic e-mail to the A.S. Council addressing the issue. Chokshi
outlined the problems regarding the dance, as well as possible solutions to
replan the event.
To ameliorate the situation, the planning committee will
collaborate with members of S.P.A.C.E.S. and the Student Affirmative Action
Committee to implement necessary changes and compromise on aspects of the
event.
The Revelle Semiformal is still set to take place on March
7, though the name of the event has been changed to “Sakura Night,” or “Night
of the Cherry Blossom.” The details of the event, such as food and decorations,
will not be finalized until further discussion with student groups. The
planning committee will have to go before the college council once more to
approve any drastic changes made to the budget.
RCC plans to be more involved in community events and with groups
such as SAAC to avoid similar situations in the future, according to Chokshi.
“It is unfortunate that our impact on the community was not
the same as our intent, but the silver lining to this situation is that we can
use it as a first step in raising public awareness of the negative connotations
words like ‘Orient’ and ‘Eastern’ have when referring to the API community,”
Zuniga said.
