Yalies: don't ignore real issues

By Henry Wong

Which of these on-campus displays of activism have drawn the biggest crowd from the Yale community in the past two years? a) The student campaign to increase representation of minorities and women among Yale's administration and faculty. b) The vigil to protest hate crimes, including one incident in which an Asian-American Yale student and two of his white non-Yale friends were allegedly beaten by 15 to 20 Yale students. c) The two evangelist preachers in suit and tie that forcefully offered one-way tickets to Cuba to Yale students and harassed onlookers by calling them "whore-mongers" and "children of the devil."

Sadly, the answer appears to be c. I could have sworn that I saw more than 100 members of the Yale community at Beinecke Plaza on that day when one of the preachers—with his tie pulled loose and his collar unbuttoned from all the heat that evangelist preachers seem to build up when they're condemning half of the world to burn in hell—denounced everybody who didn't wear a white hood in his or her spare time.

Why is a man who points people out from the crowd and hurls offensive insults at them more effective at gathering Yale students than the lack of diversity in our faculty that undoubtedly cuts us off from fresh perspectives and ideas, the assault of a student by other students because of the color of his skin, the plight of sweatshop workers in some factory filled with more toxic chemicals than my organic chemistry lab, or students protesting the suffering of political prisoners in China?

Look at our Ivy League peers, many of whom have surpassed Yale in bringing more tenured minority and women faculty to their campuses. Look at the work of students at other top-tier colleges that has brought an end to university purchases of products from sweatshops. Look at the STARC (Student Alliance to Reform Corporations) conference over the weekend that brought out 500 to 600 students—from other colleges, that is—to discuss strategies to make corporations accountable for their actions.

Then look at what's happening at Yale. More than a few people have told me that they thought that the evangelist incident was "pretty damn funny." Indeed, the whole street sermon seemed like a comedy gig when I passed by. Contrast that to all the people who looked away instead of stopping to acknowledge that the Ivory Tower should open up its doors to a broader range of peoples, that hate crime is wrong, that our Yale shirts should be free of the blood and sweat of people who can't afford a happy meal at McDonald's.

Could breaking the infamous "Yale bubble" of apathy be as simple as picking up the Bible and calling people sinners? Is it possible that some crazy loon could be more effective than caring, rational people struggling to improve the lives of those less fortunate than us?

If so, Yale, then just you wait. If there's justice in this world, pretty soon you'll be seeing someone new standing up in Beinecke Plaza. Instead of listening attentively to someone screaming, "If you listen to rock 'n' roll, you are a child of the devil!" you will hear, "If you don't care that someone was assaulted by 20 Yale students because of race, you are a child of the devil!" until your ears are bleeding. Who knows? Maybe this time, people will stay and listen for a few minutes. And maybe they'll think.

Henry Wong is a junior in Davenport.

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