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Bryn Mawr College Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College Publications, Special Bryn Mawr College News Collections, Digitized Books 1988 The olC lege News 1988-2-3 Vol. 9 No. 7 Students of Bryn Mawr College Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy . Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.brynmawr.edu/bmc_collegenews Custom Citation Students of Bryn Mawr College, The College News 1988-2-3 Vol. 9 No. 7 (Bryn Mawr, PA: Bryn Mawr College, 1988). This paper is posted at Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College. http://repository.brynmawr.edu/bmc_collegenews/1382 For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE NEWS VOLUME IX Number 7 FOUMDED1914 BRYN MAWR COLLEGE February 3, Filmmakers tell Chin's story Asian-Americans were outraged. In 1984, by Cheryl Kim Ron Ebens was brought to trial on a federal It is the night of June 19, 1982. Vincent charge of civil rights violation. He was sen- Chin, a Chinese-American, is at the Fancy tenced to twenty-five years' imprisonment. Pants Lounge in Detroit. He is to be married The judgement was overturned by an in two days. Ronald Ebens and his stepson appeals court. In May, 1987, he won his ap- Michael Nitz are patronizing the same bar. peal and was acquitted. He never spent a full Chin gives a large tip to one of the day in jail. dancers. Ron Ebens becomes enraged. He Renee Tajima and Christine Choy, New yells at Chin across the room; he calls him a York-based filmmakers, have filmed a docu- "motherfucker." Chin becomes angered in mentary about the incident, tentatively turn. "Don't call me that," he replies. "I'm not called Who Killed Vincent Chin?. At Collec- a fucker." He walks over to Ebans and tion on Tuesday, January 26, Tajima throws a punch. Soon Chin has both Ebens showed clips from the documentary at and Nitz on the floor. The management of Stokes auditorium. the bar throws them all out. The format of the documentary was They have another altercation in the park- similar to that of Roshomon—the events are ing lot. Chin and his friends leave, and walk delineated from several points of view. to a McDonald's. Ebens and Nitz are still Chin's mother and his friends were inter- angry. With baseball bat in hand, they search viewed, as were Ronald Ebens, his wife, the neighborhood, looking for Chin. They Michael Nitz, and their friends. finally spot him outside McDonald's. Nitz Tajima and Choy had difficulties obtain- holds him while Ebens hits Chin three times, ing funding for the production. PBS ques- with the bat. The final blow is to Chin's skull. tioned their ability to be objective, because It fractures, and part of his brain spills out they were Asian. "I'm a professional," Tajima onto the street. Police arrive on the scene, said. "I didn't allow any emotions to interfere but Ebens is reluctant to let go of the bat. with the presentation of the truth. I wanted Chin is pronounced brain dead, and his the audience to listen to the different ver- life support is disconnected four days later. sions of the story and decide on the truth for themselves." When their case came up in 1983, neither According to Tajima, Ebens was deeply Ron Ebens nor Michael Nitz went to trial. distrustful of reporters and declined to be They plea-bargained their way into a charge interviewed at first. "I had to prostitute my- Abena Busia, former Mellon Fellow In the BMC English Dept., spoke in the campus center of manslaughter. Both were fined $3,780 for self in a way," she stated. "After his acquittal, last Friday MEMO mom violation of Civil Rights and were put on pro- I took Ron Ebens, his wife, and his lawyers bation for three years. (Continued on page 9) Busia explores Black women's voices gMQ JruSteeS plan f UtUTe by Sia Nowrojee Ntozake Shange, by interjecting her stories with detailed descriptions of recipes and by Lynne Bowers and and upgrading the salaries of faculty and "Reading and writing I don't know. Other other women's rituals, give these rituals a Linda Friedrich staff members. Most of the discussion things I know," says a Black woman as she centered around purpose of the committee. legitimacy that has been held back thus far On December 4 and 5, the members of walks away from a white man in a novel by Manna Holbom Gray emphasized the PAFE by the written word. the Board of Trustees travelled to Bryn Mawr Nawal el Saadawi. Last Friday Abena Busia, is not a "contingency" plan. She went on to In these ways, we begin to see a merger, as for their second meeting of the academic former Mellon Fellow in the Bryn Mawr state that the cuts made in the breadth of we now know "reading and writing," but do year. This was the annual joint meeting of English Department, spoke about these programs, especially on the graduate level, not have to walk away with those "Other Bryn Mawr's Trustees and Haverf ord's Board "Other things," as related to the position of were seen as necessary for the long term things" we know. We can bring these Other of Managers. The important issues confront- Black women writers in Africa and of the health of Bryn Mawr. The role of CAFE is not things to a new center where we do not have ing the Board include the election of Haver- African diaspora. academic or appellate, however if the Aca- to choose, but have all the means to express ford's new President, discussion of the bi- Using vivid examples from various texts, demic Planning Committee recommends what is important to us. Where, Busia says, college alcohol policy, and the impact of the mostly by Black women like Toni Morrison, significant changes in the PAFE the two we can leam our own dances, speak our own October stock market crash on the Plan for Manama Ba, Nawal el Saadawi and Alice committees will engage in dialogue. names. Achieving Financial Equilibrium (PAFE). Walker, Busia illustrated a progression and Friday afternoon, the Student Life Com- change in the position of Black women in Busia followed her talk with examples of Early on December 4, the Committee to her voice and her power, reading three of her mittee met in a joint session with several of literature. From not having a voice at all, Achieve Financial Equilibrium (CAFE) met Haverford's managers. Prior to the arrival of poems from an upcoming book. This was to discuss the progress towards the goals set Black women have been reclaiming that lan- the Haverfordians, Lynne Bowers, Linda followed by a reception, and later a dinner forth in the PAFE. Two of the major issues guage of power—"reading and writing"— Friedrich, and Mili Cisneros presented a for women of color at Perry House. addressed were expanding housing space, that has for so long been used to control statement to the Committee regarding the them. This language, which could be called disruption of SGA in early November. The the father tongue, does give power to Committee's response was generally posi- women who have mastered it. However, it Reagan attacks abortions tive and supportive. The central focus of the does not seem adequate to cover those meeting was the draft of the revised alcohol "Other things" which Black women know by Cindy Stevens 12,000 to 15,000 white couples apply for policy. The intense discussion generated and have always been empowered by. Ac- adoption and remain on waiting lists for suggestions for ways in which to clarify the quisition of the father tongue should not Abortion again was the target of attack years. On the other hand, Hodgson said that language of the policy. A final draft of the mean having to give up what is powerful to from the Reagan Administration as the The Adoption Agency must advertise exten- policy is forthcoming. Black women. Merely having masculine President strongly reaffirmed his conserva- sively to find a hime for a single minority Promptly at 9 a.m., Chairman Gray con- power is not enough. tive stand in his January 25th State of the child. Indeed, according to a 1984 Federal vened the general Board meeting. President Do we have to maintain that initial split Union address. Reagan assured pro-lifers Government Study of the Ethnic Classifica- McPherson reminded the Board that every between "reading and writing" and the that no government money would be used to tion of Children Adopted (in a single year), ten years Bryn Mawr is reviewed by institu- "Other things"? To do so would be to lose support the killing of unborn babies. Sup- 57% adopted were white, 7% Hispanic, tions in the Middle States Region. The pur- our power as Black women. Those Other porters of Reagan's policy assert that these 26% Black, and 10% other. pose of this review is to accredit institutions things, which Busia defines as those activi- feti, if given the chance to live, would have Now that President Reagan has barred of higher learning and will take place next ties in the darkness of living, the bonding perfectly happy lives in the homes of thou- federal funds from clinics which provide fall. which only women can create from each sands of couples who wish to adopt children. abortions or even advertise them, many low- The Academic Affairs Committee an- other and the rituals of women's lives, the While this may be true in some cases, the cost and free clinics will be forced to shut nounced the formation of the Academic oral nature of the mother tongue, these fact remains that staggering numbers of down.

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