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Hate Crimes Galvanize U.C. Davis Students

By Neela Banerjee

Responding to months of anti-Asian violence and increased racial tensions, hundreds of U.C. Davis students voiced their demands at a teach-in last Thursday, highlighting the need for stronger institutional support for the Asian Pacific Islander community and a more effective response to hate crimes.

“The hate crimes were sort of a surprise to me, because Davis has this notion of being a really safe and liberal school,” sophomore Jihan Ejan said. “You would think things like this would never happen in the 21st century.”

Hundreds of U.C. Davis students, faculty and community activists protest a wave of anti-Asian hate crimes that has hit the university. Photo by Neela Banerjee.

John Park, one of five Korean American students who were attacked in their apartment, spoke out publicly at the teach-in. Photo by Neela Banerjee

Davis police arrested current U.C. Davis student Erik Hayes and former student Jeff Wyly, each of whom has been charged with five counts of burglary, assault and perpetration of hate crimes. Their preliminary hearing is set for March 13. If found guilty, the two could face up to 10 years in prison.

In December, police broke up a brawl at the levee between at least 70 members of Kappa Sigma and members of three Asian American fraternities, who were all trying to spell out messages with the rocks. According to Asian American students at Davis, a Kappa Sigma member pushed an Asian American student while yelling, “Get out of the hill, chink.”

With racial tensions at an all-time high, the suspicious death of 20-year-old U.C. Davis student and Kappa Sigma member Andrew Wieman, in early January, seemed to bring things to a head. Wieman was found in his room at the Kappa Sigma fraternity house with multiple stab wounds to the neck, chest and wrists. After a few weeks of investigation, authorities determined the death to be a suicide because of the knife found at the scene with Wieman’s fingerprints and a suicide note. However, an article in the U.C. Davis student newspaper, The California Aggie, attempted to make connections between the death and previous violence between Kappa Sigma and Asian American fraternities. These rumors spread even though statements were issued, both by Kappa Sigma President Bobby Minck and U.C.D. Police Captain Rita Spaur, saying that there was no connection whatsoever between Weiman’s death and Asian American students.

A number of other incidents including racial slurs, racial taunting at intramural sports games, and altercations at local bars added to the list of problems, many of which were not officially reported to authorities.

“When all these things happened in a row, it was a real wake-up call,” Ejan, one of the organizers of Thursday’s teach-in, said.

Students and Admistrators React

Janet Gong, assistant vice-chancellor for student affairs, said that the administration saw the incidents as unacceptable, but also as part of a larger trend.

“I think the incidents were a bit of an anomaly, because they involved three or four simultaneous behaviors that included bias and racial epithets, which are quite wholly unacceptable to us,” Gong said. “But they also involved violence and a social setting and alcohol, and if you put all those together, you have a fairly significant recipe for intolerance.”

Gong said that the administration was concerned that they were starting to see some “generational differences” that resulted in a lack of inter-group and conflict resolution skills in the students.

API students and concerned members of the Davis community felt that the administration had not done enough to address these incidents and respond to them pro-actively.

“The main incidents happened back in October, but most people found out three months later,” Ejan said. “The way the administration was getting information out to us was not working; it was not getting through. A lot of people still aren’t aware that these hate crimes took place. It just seems like not enough is getting done.”

Gong said that the administration focused their response on the people who were involved in the violence.

“We offered significant mediation and conflict resolution activities between and among those groups with the help of our counseling center and judicial affairs,” Gong said. “We wanted to intervene in a way that would prevent any further confrontation.”

Students felt like the administration’s response to the violence was also indicative of the larger problem of a lack of institutional resources for the large (35 percent) Asian American community.

“There has always been an issue with the resources that are available for API students and whether the administration is meeting our needs,” 4th-year student Andrea Taceol said. “Especially because of the model minority myth, they think because the students are doing fine and retention is high, that these students don’t have serious needs.”

Students claim that even with significant student enrollments in Asian American studies classes, there is still no established department. There are also no designated staff personnel to deal with API matters. Compared with other ethnic studies programs on campus which have a full-time Student Affairs Officer, Asian American Studies has only been authorized a half time position, that has not yet been filled.

A Rainbow Coalition Against Hate

Thursday’s rally brought together students of all backgrounds, faculty, staff and community activists from across the Bay Area. Over 300 students gathered at Memorial Union at the center of campus and marched to Mrak Hall, the main administration building, where over 15 featured speakers made a call for community action.

“I know what they tell you about hate crimes on college campuses. They tell you it has to do with alcohol, that it is just a few bad apples, that it was an isolated incident,” Victor Hwang from the Asian Law Caucus said. “When they tell you it’s an isolated incident – I tell you that is a lie.”

Hwang said that hate crimes happen when numbers of Asian Americans grow and that the real way to fight this is to organize and fight for more representation in faculty and administration.

John Park, one of the five Korean American students that was attacked in their apartment in October, spoke out publicly for the first time at the teach-in.

“I personally hadn’t ever given much thought to hate crimes before it happened to me,” Park said, clearly overwhelmed by the large crowd. “Last semester was my first here. I haven’t even heard the word ‘chink’ since elementary school.”

Park said that when the incident happened in October, he and his friends did not know where to turn, and that they were not properly informed by the police and the school of support groups or counseling opportunities.

“At first we felt like we were five alone, facing the world of hate crimes,” Park said.

Hwang said that Davis is lagging behind other California schools in having a strong support center and response in place to deal with hate crimes. “Especially because hate crime victims are made to feel so isolated, this resource is very important,” Hwang said.

The 15 action items that the students were demanding included the designation of a culturally sensitive point person to work with victims of hate crimes, mandatory seminars to address conflict management, and the establishment of a center for Asian American students with professional staff.

“We are continuing to have discussion with representatives of the Council of Asian Pacific Americans to see what we can do to try and address these requests,” Gong said. The latest meeting was held last Thursday night after the rally. “We are in the process of hiring a very high level administrator to focus on issues of campus, community and diversity.”

Students at the teach-in spoke out again and again about U.C. Davis’s community, and how the real answers have to come from the students themselves.

“Racial tensions here are really high, but more than anything they are understated, and I think that leads to problems,” junior Sarah Hussain said. “People don’t know how to communicate with each other, and that is the real issue.”