"ENVOY

* VOICE OF HUNTER COLLEGE

October 3-17, 2007 * Volume 63, Issue 2

Mind if We
CRAASH
Here?

Under-funded Asian American
Studies Program incites
student action—the CRAASH

Tracy Neiman
Contributing Writer

he Coalition for the Revitalization ofAsian

American Studies at Hunter (CRAASH)
is a new group headed by, and currently
made up of, four students who would like to
see progress made to fund Hunter’s Asian
American Studies Program. CRAASH is led
by Olivia Lin and classmates Jessica Lee,
Chris Eng and Emil Marquita.

The group was formed after Olivia Lin
was rebuffed in her attempt to declare an
Asian American Studies minor. Lin said she
was informed that the department “couldn’t
offer any minors [that] term because they
didn’t have a permanent head, and [there was]
no one to run the program because there [was]
no salary for anyone who [chose] to take this
position.” Upon further probing, Lin found out
that the pay for that position was nonexistent
because both CUNY and Hunter provide little
orno funding for the program, a fate apparently

image courtesy of CRAASH

common to many ethnic studies departments.
The situation is made more complex by an
increasingly tight departmental budget, which
consists of only $500 for supplies. According
to an adjunct professor in the Asian American

Continued on page 3

Inside:

Letter from the Editor

NEWS

HWRC Gets Down to Business
(Not) News to Me

Hunter A Nice(r)-Place

Many students are not aware of the myriad opportunities offered by the Hunter College Education Abroad Program.
Students may chose from a vast range of programs and destinations, from studying Performing Arts in India to Race,
Gender and Culture in Brazil. Read more about these options in Tyler Ciccarrelli’s article on page 5.

Hunter Hel

photo by Charlotte Cusumano

ps the Homeless

Students take part in the Midnight Run

Dave Mitchell
Associate Features Editor

wenty or so volunteers met at Hunter

on Thursday, September 20, to join the
Midnight Run, an organization devoted to
helping Manhattan’s poor. Students showed
homeless people in midtown Manhattan
they cared by distributing donated clothing
and food.

Hillel, Hunter’s Jewish group, got
involved with Midnight Run last year and
hosted the event this year as well. Some other
groups joined Hillel, including the Women’s
Rights Coalition, Amnesty International and
Agents of Change.

Hillel tries to collect donations and
make a run every month, citing Tikkunolan,
which is a Hebrew concept, meaning, “to
repair the world.”

Midnight Run is made up of “a
consortium of churches, synagogues, schools

and other civic groups in metropolitan New
York,” according to their website, and has
been headed by Dale Williams since 1991.
He is their only full-time employee and was
once homeless himself.

Bill Gemake, who has volunteered with
the organization for seventeen years, met
the volunteers at Hunter and explained how
a run works. They left just before 10 p.m.,
piling into a silver Ford van or walking to the
first of several midtown destinations. More
important than handing out gently worm
clothing, toiletries and food, was the chance
for those living on the streets to spend time
with people who genuinely want to help.
On the run, volunteers asked, “How are you
doing?” and “Is there something I can get
for you?” Midnight Run helps people who
don’t usually see this sort of kindness.

“JT get people who call mea bum ... that
hurts,” one man said. “Every time I hear it,

it hurts.” He said that a real estate developer
from Tokyo and a lawyer from Queens
recently pushed him and his companion of
37 years out of their apartment. The story
is common: living expenses get too high,
and the person, or people, have no support
system to fall back on.

When the van made a stop, the first thing
recipients usually asked for was clothing.
Most asked for razors, shampoo and soap
next. Gemake recalled Dale Williams
once saying, “There is nothing worse than
knowing you smell and not being able
to do anything about it.” The majority of
homeless people that the volunteers met on
the street were polite and well-spoken, some
even held bachelor’s degrees. Gemake said
it was those in need of help who kept him
involved.

“T was overwhelmed,” he said, “not just

Continued on page 4

SPORTS ARTS
p. 2 | Fall Preview from the Athletic Dept. p. 4 | Kathryn Harrison reads p.7
FEATURES Goth Kids p.7
p.3 | Experience the World on a Student Budget p. 5 | 52 Weeks at the Movies: ALove Supreme _p. 8
p. 3 | Cosmopolitan Hunter p. 5 | Michael Thomas at National Arts Club p. 8
p. 4 | Club Fair Recap p. 6 | Robert Morris on Modern Art p.8


October 3-17, 2007

THE ENVOY

HWRC Gets Down to
Business

The Hunter Women’s Rights Coalition continues their fight this year

Anthony Bongiorno
News Editor

he Hunter Women’s Rights Coalition,

headed by Jerin Alam, is still going
strong, with a large number of events and
plans for the new school year on their
agenda.

We decided to do a beginning of the
year check-in with the HWRC to ask
them about some of their newer plans,
and how they feel about New York’s
recent refusal of abstinence only funding,
a one-up for pro-choicers. Jerin Alam,
the group’s president, refers to this move
as a “victory.”

“Studies have shown that abstinence
only education does not work and
that these programs sometimes gave
incorrect health information to students,”
said Alam. “In a world where AIDS
has become a pandemic, the last thing
we need is mis-education about sexual
health. I am grateful that New York is
one of the states that refused the federal
funding for this waste of money. The
decision sends out a clear message to the
federal government and I hope they are
listening.” ,

Alam then detailed some future plans
of the HWRC to support reproductive
rights, and their team-up with Planned
Parenthood. “I met with a representative
from Planned Parenthood yesterday,”
said Alam. “We will be working closely

CRAASH cont. from page 1

Studies Program (AASP), who spoke on the
condition of anonymity, AASP’s budget does
not support a full-time staff, and therefore
must rely on adjuncts.

Nonetheless, the situation is not as bleak
as it sounds. “All of the adjuncts who teach
in the program are highly qualified to do what
they do,” the instructor said. “We’ve all done
interesting things. They’re not just outsourcing

* jobs to whoever walks in.”

Additionally, according to Meredith
Halpern, Hunter’s spokesperson, “Tt is not
the case at all that there aren’t any full-time
professors. The coordinator of the program,
Jennifer Hayashida, has recently been hired
thanks to new funding for her position.”
Halpern also cited nine other “new and
continuing faculty members in Asian Studies,”
and added, “this year, a new Asian American
faculty member [will be] teaching courses on
Asian American topics in Film and Media
Studies.”

Still, classes are filled to capacity, and
there are only 17 courses being offered in
the department this semester, six of which
are introductory courses. Even for the
most qualified professors, stretching the
department’s limited budget and resources in
order to meet the demands of its students is
challenging.

Lin said she was told “the main reason
that the Asian American Studies Program is
not getting any support from CUNY is because

with them, and there are plans to bring in
representatives about doing a workshop
and letter-writing campaign.”

The HWRC and Planned Parenthood
are also working together on making
birth control pills available for students.
“Congress recently passed an act that
cut funding to colleges to provide low
cost birth control pills to its students. In
some cases, costs went up from $10 to
$50 per prescription,” said Alam. “This
is not something that has affected Hunter
yet, because we were not able to provide
birth control on campus. However, I am
meeting with the Health & Wellness
office soon and will discuss ways of
providing this service to our students.”

As well as their work on reproductive
rights, the HWRC is involved in an
upcoming on-campus event that Hunter
College, and the Women and Gender
Studies Program in particular, is helping
to organize. The event is called The
National Conference for Women and
Girls: Freedom on Our Terms—From
Houston 1977 - NY 2007, and it will be
a celebration of the 30th anniversary of
the first National Women’s Conference,
which was held in Houston, Texas. “We
need lots of volunteers,” urges Alam.

For more about the HWRC (the group
certain to take over the world), check out
their club space in Thomas Hunter room
309, or their Facebook page.

Hunter College

Tne tity University of New York

impact of Asian Americans in the media.

there is not interest from students.” To Lin,
however, this seems like backwards logic.

“Tf there’s no interest,” Lin asked, “then
why are there so many students in my classes
when we don’t even have one full-time
faculty member?” Furthermore, it was largely
student interest in 1993 which gave rise to the
department in the first place. Additionally,
according to www.collegeboard.com, the
Hunter student body is 24% Asian/Pacific
Islander, making Asian American Studies very
pertinent for the Hunter community.

“Tt’s strange not to try harder to have
the curriculum reflect the student body,”
acknowledged the aforementioned instructor.

CRAASH says in its mission statement

Hunter College students join director Justin Lin and actors Sung Kang and Roger Fan
first Asian American Studies Program sponsored event on September 25th to discuss the

(Not) News to Me

The Envoy News Editor handpicks the recent headlines that the Hunter community should
care about—and the few that no one should care about.

Anthony Bongiorno
News Editor

News to Me... --

* Looks like America’s kids are finally
beginning to catch up. According to the
results of recent reading and math tests,
America’s public school students are doing
notably better in math since the No Child Left
Behind Law took effect in 2002. However,
reading scores as a whole have not increased
significantly, and have even dropped slightly
among eighth graders.

* Bill O’Reilly’s statements are serving him
up a dish of trouble, this time with African
Americans. O’Reilly was full of praise for
Harlem restaurant, Sylvia’s, on the Sept. 19
episode of his nationally syndicated radio —
show. Some say his flattering comments,
however, reflected his ignorance of black
culture. "There wasn't one person in Sylvia's
who [was] screaming, 'M-Fer, I want more
iced tea ... [It] was like going into an Italian
restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense
of people were sitting there, and they were
ordering and having fun. And there wasn't
any kind of craziness at all.” Oh, O’Reilly!

* The UN. is strongly urging a quadrupling
of global AIDS spending to meet their goal
of providing universal access to effective
treatment by the year 2010. Current spending

Michel Sidibe, deputy executive director for
UNAIDS, told reporters, “We simply are not
spending enough or doing enough.”

* When Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
was asked by Tim Russert about possibly
torturing terrorists who know where a bomb

at the

photo courtesy of CRAASH
that they are “dedicated to rejuvenating the
Asian American Studies Program of Hunter
College, as well as expanding the program to
include a greater variety of courses. CRAASH
aims to organize the Hunter community
and spread awareness about the inadequate
conditions of the AASP.”
So far, CRAASH members have
distributed fliers around the school and are

working on a petition. They also hope to
begin negotiations with the CUNY Board |

of Trustees, Chancellor Matthew Goldstein
and Hunter President, Jennifer J. Raab by

generating enough student interest in the cause
to get the administration to address the issue.

As a new organization, CRAASH

will explode, she replied, “[Torture] cannot

be American policy, period ... there is very

little evidence that it works.” He then told
her that her husband, former president Bill
Clinton, was the person who laid out that
scenario. Clinton replied, “He’s not standing
here right now.”

Not News to Me...

¢ Television journalist, Nancy Grace,
announced on her CNN show the sexes of
her expected twins, one a boy, one a girl. My
announcement: Congratulations, Nancy ...
and you're still way annoying.
Donald Trump told CNN that long-time
television journalist Dan Rather is “a loser
... [who] has been getting low ratings for
years,” when asked for comments about
Rather’s lawsuit against CBS. Mind you,
Dan Rather was the host of the CBS Evening
News for 24 years. Donald Trump’s The
Apprentice was nearly cancelled after its fifth
season, and has now been moved to NBC’s
Sunday night lineup, to run after Americas
Got Talent. Umm...

¢ Congressman Heath Shuler (D-NC) is
proposing a bill that will create special
“kid-friendly” sections on all commercial
aircrafts. “It’s very unfortunate that airlines
continue to show very violent films on the
main cabin screen,” said Shuler. “It’s very

“Don’t watch the screen.’” Great idea. Kids
deserve to get their own “kid friendly”
section. After all, adults have their “let’s get
friendly and make kids” section, also known
as the plane restroom. Why should they get
all the fun?

is looking for as much help as possible.
According to Lin, “We are four people who
want to do so much, but it’s out of our own
pockets. We’re looking for sponsors and
are trying to get more funding.” Students or
faculty interested in helping out should email
HunterCollegeCRASH@yahoo.com.

Students are not the only ones making
strides in generating interest for the Asian
American Studies Program. The department
itself is working on applying for CUNY and
outside grants, as well as furthering student
interest in the program. According to the
instructor quoted earlier, there is already an
increase in interest this year. Even faculty who
teach relevant courses in other departments
are getting more involved with the Asian
American Studies Program, and students in
general are more involved in it.

It helps that the department is utilizing
its limited funds to host events such as last
week’s free movie screening and Q&A with
Justin Lin, Director of Better Luck Tomorrow
and the upcoming Finishing the Game, as well
as with actors Roger Fan (Annapolis and BLT)
and Sung Kang (The Fast and the Furious:
Tokyo Drift).

The professor quoted previously is
hopeful that by “[soliciting] interest from
Asian. American artists and academics,
{and reaching] out to the Asian American
community in New York [which has] a lot to
offer the Hunter community,” the department
will create enough interest to sustain itself.